Father Figure
by alebrewer
Summary: The magic that protected Harry wasn't just his mother's sacrifice, He had a guardian angel. James soul was tied to Harry's magic. James would do anything to protect his son. editted 1/9/14 rating to T, violence and some language.
1. Chapter 1

Standard disclaimer, I do not own Harry Potter, Harry Potter and associated works are the property of JK Rowling, her agents, and her assignees.

Father Figure

He came back to partial consciousness, and could hear Harry crying, "Go back to sleep love, I'll take care of Harry." He said before he even tried to get up. When he didn't hear her usual murmured response, he snapped fully alert his surroundings were wrong, this wasn't Albus' house at Godric's Hollow, or the farm in the midlands.

As his surroundings came into focus, he remembered the attack, remembered hoping he'd given Lilly enough time to escape. But this was all wrong their hold out plan was the farm. Harry and Lily should be at the farm. The farm was also under _fidelus_ but with the goblins as secret keeper. Some didn't trust them but he didn't think there was a goblin alive that would break a clan blood oath. The contract to have the _fidelus_ placed on the farm had cost a huge sum to obtain with obscene penalties if the security was compromised due to the goblins. They hadn't given permission for the goblins to tell anyone except themselves.

Looking around himself, he was in a cramped cupboard. He felt cold. He turned around and there was Harry wrapped up in a blanket on the floor crying. This didn't make any sense. First things first, calm Harry then figure out what was going on. -Take care of business now, freak out later-.

"It's okay Harry, It'll be all right, Daddy's here," he said soothingly, Harry reacting to his voice. James reached down to pick him up and couldn't. He could touch his son, but his hands kept slipping right off him. He tried several times with rising panic. He realized he must not have survived. He repeated the mantra, -take care of business now, freak out later-. He could touch him though so that would have to do. He stroked Harry's back and tried to wrap the blanket closer around him, but it took supreme effort to do so. Harry was still crying. James decided to try singing. He'd always left this to Lily mostly because she objected to the things he sang. It wasn't his fault that he really didn't listen to much music until Sirius got in to muggle rock just to offend his parents.

"…Kindled by the dying embers of another working day.  
Go upstairs ... take off your makeup -fold your clothes neatly away.  
Me, I'll sit and write this love song, as I all too seldom do -  
build a little fire this midnight. It's good to be in love with you."

He sang and Harry calmed as he sang. Butchering the last line as he always did, James thought about his wife and hoped beyond hope that she survived and was okay. With his thoughts focused on the love for his family he felt a bit warmer. Harry subsided back into sleep rolling a bit so James saw his face. There was the Eihwaz rune they had drawn in the ritual of protection which might be why he was still tied to this plane. The rune didn't look right. It had been an anointment but this looked angry and raw and twisted. It almost looked like Sowilo in opposition. He placed his hand on the rune and felt himself drawn into Harry. He felt his son's magic and a firm connection between himself and his son's core. There was also a black leech that had a small connection to his son's magic but which seemed to be trying to latch on deeper. James pushed at the leech, trying to dislodge it. It wouldn't budge. In fact it reacted by growing towards him like the blob in that silly old muggle movie Lily had insisted he take her to. He pushed back. He was able to make some progress and tried to push harder. He had to touch Harry's magic closer to where the dark magic tendrils were touching his son's magic. He felt righteous anger and used it to try to burn out the dark magic. Gradually, he made more progress but then it slowed until eventually it felt like he was at a stalemate.

James prayed for strength. He fervently wished Lily were here to help him. Their love for their son made him stronger. He almost felt her fighting next to him. This boost was enough to break the blackness free. With a last effort of will he pushed it out. Taking stock he was now more connected to Harry's magic. Unless he was mistaken, Harry's magic also felt larger. James tried to pull back out of Harry's core and felt stuck. Concentrating, he was able to move back out of Harry but felt an almost tangible connection to his son.

He felt warmer and was able to touch Harry easier, he smoothed his hair and noticed the scar seemed much less inflamed and now looked more like the Eihwaz rune he and Lily had drawn. He made sure that Harry was comfortable. Looking at the door of the cupboard he willed himself through it and came out in sitting room of a fairly normal looking house. There was no one around. Looking out the window, it was obviously the middle of the night. He noticed light switches and telly, so it was obviously a muggle home. Looking around, there were pictures on the wall of the entryway that included a huge walrus of a man and a woman with a pinched face holding a baby. Petunia!

This was all wrong. Why would Harry be at the Dursley's. James had to find out what went wrong. He searched the house, feeling a connection to Harry that let him know exactly where he was at all times. He couldn't find anything in the downstairs. Searching the upstairs, he became more incensed. In addition to the small office downstairs, which could have served as a bedroom for a toddler, although no way would he want a toddler sleeping that far away from him in a house without elves, there were four bedrooms, one obviously made up as a guest room that looked unused and one that was made up as a playroom. The master bedroom held the snoring masses that were his brother and sister in-law. His nephew was asleep in the bedroom right next door to theirs, a bedroom that was decorated lavishly.

Exiting the house, James felt resistance as he moved further away from Harry but he could manage it by concentrating. He was able to see a ward line at the edge of the property which seemed to be still in the charging stage and hadn't taken full effect. This gave him some comfort but he was worried because his limited mage sight was telling him that it wasn't much of a ward scheme. He returned to the house. He still sensed that Harry was asleep so he went back to searching the house.

In the office he found that he could, by concentrating, physically move things. He found a letter on Hogwarts parchment telling the Dursleys of his and Lily's death and letting them know that by taking Harry in, they would receive protection and monetary support. He also found a letter from the ghoblins detailing financial support which matched the amounts that he and Lily had set up in their will. The letter was dated the sixth of November which made him look around and determine based on the most recent paper that it was at least the tenth. It was more than sufficient to contribute to the raising of Harry. The letter also detailed that their mortgage had been taken over by the goblins and that they did not need to make payments to it so that the house having magical protection would not raise questions. In learning to pass in the muggle world from Lily, James had learned about muggle finance and truth be told, the stipend was probably more than Vernon made. So why was his son in a God damn cupboard far away from anyone who could hear him cry out in the night? He would find out. He noticed the sky starting to show the first signs of lightening. Maybe once Vernon and Petunia were awake he could get some answers. He went back to check on Harry.

Some time later, James heard Vernon and Petunia start to move around. When Petunia came down the stairs, he came out of the cupboard.

"Petunia-" he addressed her as she went about putting the kettle on. She didn't react. "Petunia-" he said more forcefully. No reaction. "Petunia!" He yelled. She looked around as if she heard something and then went back to what she was doing.

James walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder. She shivered but didn't turn or react. James tried desperately to get her attention and failed. She distastefully went to the cupboard and took Harry out to change his nappy which James realized he had completely forgotten with everything else. Harry seemed none the worse for wear on that front which caused James to sigh in relief and say a silent apology to Lily.

Petunia then set Harry in a playpen in the corner of the dining room that was devoid of toys again causing James to boil. She went about preparing breakfast and while things were bubbling away, went upstairs and brought Dudley down setting him in the other playpen which seemed to be adorned with an abundance of toys. As James became more upset, he noticed Harry become agitated and reach out for him. He went over to his son and knelt down next to him calming himself and his child.

When breakfast was served, Dudley was placed in a high chair while Harry was set on a stack of books on a normal chair, with nothing to keep him from tumbling if he slipped, James had to control himself while Petunia fed Dudley keeping up a running commentary to her husband and Harry was left to himself. When Dudley knocked his juice glass to the floor causing it to break Dudley burst into tears at the sound- but James was able to keep Harry calm. Petunia looked oddly at Harry but went to clean it up. When breakfast was done, Petunia returned her son to his playpen but left Harry to climb down off the tower of books. He toddled getting down from the chair and fell cutting his hand on a small piece of glass that Petunia had missed. Harry started screaming in pain.

Vernon brusquely grabbed him, not seeming to care that he grabbed the hand that Harry cut and dragged him to the hall- "Little freak, if you are going to scream you can spend the day in your cupboard. You wanted to be in there you can stay in there." He almost tossed Harry physically into the cupboard, causing Harry to cry louder.

James was torn between taking care of Harry and wanting to physically assault Vernon, who he could see wiping a smudge of blood off his hand onto his handkerchief before throwing it away.

"Bloody freak, you better hope Petunia can get that blood out of my kerchief." Vernon stomped to the door, put on his coat, picked up his briefcase and left.

James repeated his increasingly comforting mantra, take care of business now, freak out later. James went to the cupboard to check on Harry, who was huddled in a corner with his blanket snuffling. "It's okay kiddo, you'll be alright-" he said calmingly. "Can Daddy see your hand?" James asked reaching tenderly out and taking Harry's hand.

When their hands touched, once again could feel his connection to Harry's magic. He looked at Harry's hand. It was a small cut, right in the webbing between the thumb and wand finger. It had mostly stopped bleeding. James could feel Harry's magic already healing the cut. He guided his magic more efficiently to heal him.

Harry looked at him and said, "Boo boo gone." Then spread his hands wide to be picked up. James concentrated with all his might and put his arms around Harry kneeling next to him. He couldn't hold him. He felt Harry's arms pass through him and felt his heart break when Harry's gurgle turned to a hiccup and then a sob "Dada?".

"I'm sorry little guy. I'm here but I can't. I'll always be here. It will be okay," he said desperately stroking the toddler's hair as he cried. "Mommy and Daddy love you. It will be okay." Harry cried himself out and then lapsed into sleep. James tried to reassure his son while not letting himself slip in to hysterical sobs.

James felt gut wrenching sadness and anger. This was unfair. Damn it, it wasn't supposed to be this way. Lily was supposed to be with him. She was better at this stuff than he was. Why was his son with the Dursleys? How dare Vernon and Petunia treat his son like this? James thought. I'm gonna give that son of a bitch a piece of my mind and suddenly felt his surroundings shift. He was in the passenger seat of a car. Vernon was driving.

"You son of a bitch!" He said grabbing Vernon's shoulder. "What in Merlin's name do you think…" he started to rant, but never got further because the moment James grabbed his shoulder, Vernon screamed and flinched in his seat. In his fear, he jerked the wheel too hard causing his mondeo to cross into oncoming traffic where he was struck by a lorry. As thoughtful and responsible behind the wheel as he was in the rest of his life, naturally Vernon wasn't wearing his safety belt. He was thrown brutally through the windscreen dying instantly. As James saw the light leave Vernon's eyes, he lost focus and found himself back in the cupboard next to Harry. James stroked his sleeping son's hair.

"I love you Harry, I can't fix everything but I'll do my best to always be there." James said internally swearing to Lily that he would protect their son.


	2. Chapter 2

Standard disclaimer, I do not own Harry Potter, Harry Potter and associated works are the property of JK Rowling, her agents, and her assignees.

James was shocked out of his reverie by the door to the cupboard opening.

"Come on Harry, let's get you out of there." Petunia said stooping down to come into the cupboard. James instinctively shifted out of the way just as if he had been alive.  
He watched warily as Petunia picked up Harry and carried him back into the kitchen. "It's freakish enough having you here without keeping you under the stairs, like some creature from one of those horrible shows on telly." Petunia set him down in his playpen with his blanket. She went down into the basement and returned with a plush bear that was missing an ear and some blocks that looked like a dog had chewed on them. "Here-" she said as if he could fully comprehend- "keep quiet."

While James watched Petunia bustled around the kitchen stopping every few minutes to entertain Dudley. James mainly focused on his son who had woken and was looking around owlishly. James wondered how long it would take the muggle police to inform Petunia of her husband's death.

"Dada," Harry said causing James to smile. James kept him quiet on the assumption that less attention from Petunia was probably better. The spirit kept a running stream of descriptions to Harry naming the animals and colors that were on the blocks. Harry burbled quietly occasionally pronouncing words.

When James had said "Harry's Blanket" a couple of times.

Harry replied "Harrysanet." James looked stunned, he should have thought of it earlier, "Harrysanet." Harry said louder, wondering why Dada had stopped playing.

His attention pulled back to the present, James reached out and stroked his son's hair. "Yes, Harry's blanket. You are such a brilliant boy." Harry giggled at his dad's praise. Now how to get in contact. His thoughts were interrupted by Petunia talking to Dudley.

"Now Diddyums, Mummy has to go run some errands. Jane-you like Jane-,Mrs. Dorret's girl, has agreed to come watch you and your cousin while Mummy is out. Be good for her and Mummy will bring you a special treat."-The doorbell rang-"That should be her now."  
Petunia left the kitchen. James followed to watch her open the door, wondering if it would be the promised sitter, or the constables coming to inform her of the death he helped cause. Fortunately, it was the promised sitter. A pleasant-looking young woman of approximately sixteen removed her rain coat revealing jeans and a jumper with her hair pulled up in a pony tail. James thought this outfit eminently sensible when caring for two toddlers.  
"Jane, thank you so much, I will have to thank your mother for recommending I ask you." Petunia said.  
"Not a problem ma'am, I took the year off to help my Gran before going on to university. But with Gran passing this summer, I'm at loose ends. I haven't been able to find a job." The young girl explained. "A few pounds here and there will help out."  
"Well then, it's good that we can help each other." Petunia said patting the girl on the shoulder. "It has been so much trouble since my sister's son was left with us last week. Practically dumped on our doorstep without so much as a change of clothes." Petunia paused, "It's just fortunate that he is smaller than my big strong Dudley so I've been able to dress him in Dudley's older things. It's just so hard taking care of two unexpectedly when you were used to one and didn't go about it in the usual way." She said with a conspiratorial smile, causing the young girl to blush. "My sister and her husband were layabouts living off his family, but to have them pass was a shock."

James was angered by Petunia's description of he and Lily but thought about this for a moment. If all they received was the note from Albus, none of Harry's things and the goblins had only just contacted them about the financial support, perhaps the lack of toys and new clothes was less ill will and more lack of any preparation. It still didn't forgive the cupboard under the stairs.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Dursley," Jane asked, "if you don't mind my asking, how did they pass?"

"Car crash, dreadful affair." Petunia said uncomfortably.

"I'm sorry for you loss," the young woman said reflexively.

"We'll get by." Petunia replied with an air of strength. "Anyway, with the rain, I should get going while I have you here." She then showed Jane where the changing table and extra clothes were. She pointed out the food for the boys and told the girl to help herself to anything she wanted for lunch. After a rather dramatic goodbye with Dudley, she left to go shopping. Dudley cried himself out but when Jane wasn't catering to him he went back to playing with his toys. Jane seeing that Harry had been quietly playing the whole time Dudley cried, unknown to her, mostly due to James playing with him, came over to his more austere crib.

"Well aren't you the well-behaved little man." Jane said bending down to pick up Harry. She juggled him on one hip picking up his teddy bear as well. As babies and toddlers are want to do, his grasping hand ended up brushing her chest. "Well maybe not so well-behaved." Jane said laughing and putting the plush in his questing hand. "Just like my little cousin." This happy scene caused James to chuckle. Harry giggled and gurgled.

Wiggling the plush to draw his attention to it she asked, "Who's your friend here? Who's this?"

The now smiling toddler replied "Pafoo." This caused James to startle. Harry had a plush that looked like his brother-in-arms' animagus form.

"What's a Pafoo?" Jane asked.

"Pafoo sirus doggy." Harry said proudly in the way of small children. James looked at him again

"Well then little man, I think this looks more like a Paddington than a Pafoo but I will bow to your superior knowledge."

James felt a sense of gratitude to this young woman treating his son better than his wife's own sister did. The young woman bounced Harry on her hip as she walked around the house. She looked around the down stairs but didn't poke too much into stuff.

When they were upstairs, she looked into the bedrooms. In the playroom upstairs, Jane set Harry down who was starting to get restless on her hip. Getting him settled with some blocks, Jane went back downstairs and checked on Dudley who was happily playing drums on the side of his crib. Jane came back upstairs and started to pick up some of the things that were haphazardly left around the playroom to clear some space. Once she had some of the things put away, she went down and retrieved the bigger boy, she got both of them situated in the playroom. She continued to pick up the items that the boys weren't playing with figuring the young mother would appreciate it. She checked her watch, seeing it was half past ten, she figured she should get the boys down for a nap. They both needed changing and the joy of getting two squirmy toddlers cleaned up and put down for a nap made her appreciate Petunia's comments more. Once they were down, she went downstairs and put a kettle on to make herself some tea. She was just pouring herself a cup when the doorbell rang. Mrs. Dursley hadn't mentioned that anyone would be coming by. Before they could ring again waking her young charges, she hurried to the door and looking through the peephole, saw a man and a woman both in police uniforms. James had been watching his son when the door bell rang and arrived in the entry way right before Jane did. He assumed this was the expected call from the police. She opened the door

"May I help you?" She asked unsure of what could be happening.

The gentleman who appeared a bit older than her father did a bit of a double take. "Mrs. Dursley?"

"No sir, Mrs. Dursley isn't here I'm watching her son and nephew while she runs some errands. May I help you?" Jane replied.

"And you are?" He asked.

"Jane Dorret, Sir, I live at number fourteen with my parents." Jane provided the

"When do you expect her back?" The constable asked.

"I'm supposed to watch the boys until around one thirty." Jane provided. "I expect her back by then."

The constable took a card out. "We'll be back then. If she arrives home earlier than that can you ask her to call my office. I'm Constable Jones."

Jane took the proffered card. "I will do that sir. Can I tell her what this is about?"

"No miss, but it is important that we speak to her as soon as possible. Good day." With that he turned and walked back to the car.

Jane closed the door and went back to her tea wondering what that was about. finishing her tea, she did some more clean up around the house. Petunia was a spotless house keeper, but two toddlers would always make a mess. she prepped the boys lunch before getting them up from their nap. she got them fed and then got them back up to the play room. She heard the front door open and came down the stairs to see Petunia in the doorway turned to watch the two police officers coming up the walkway.

Mrs. Dursley guided them into the lounge

Jane asked, "Would you like me to put the kettle on Mrs. Dursley?"

"That would be lovely dear." Petunia replied. Jane went into the kitchen to make tea.

"Officers, should I contact my husband to ask him to join us?" Petunia asked presenting a calm front.

"Actually Mrs. Dursley, we are here about your husband," Officer Jones began. "There's really no easy way to say this. your husband was in an automobile accident this morning-"

"What hospital is he in? Just let me get my coat." she exclaimed rising from her seat.

Constable Jones rose taking her arm. "Ma'am, I'm afraid we are here to tell you that he passed away this morning."

Petunia wilted. "No it can't be." she might have fallen if it weren't for the constable guiding her back into her seat.

Constable Jones gave his companion a pointed look which caused her to come over and comfort the woman breaking down in front of him.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but there's no error." This caused Petunia to sob violently.

"What happened?" Petunia sobbed.

"We're still investigating, but it would appear that he swerved to avoid a pothole and skidded into the other lane striking a larger vehicle head on." The officer paused, "A horrible but unfortunately not uncommon occurrence this time of year. Sadly, he was not wearing his safety belt which caused his injuries to be much more severe. I spoke to the first responding officer, he didn't suffer."

James who had been watching the scene was relieved that there was no suspicion of outside influence in the wreck.

The officer gave Mrs. Dursley some time to gather herself. Jane offered her a cup of tea. She sipped at her tea. After a minute, she looked back to the officers.

"Ma'am, I'm sorry to ask this, but there are some matters that need to be handled, can you follow us to the Hospital?" The constable asked.

"I have my son to take care of that will be difficult," Petunia said.

"Mrs. Dursley, I can phone my mum, I can stay and take care of the boys." Jane offered.

"Thank you dear." Petunia said. A quick phone call later Jane was set to stay.

With the boys taken care of, the widow left with the officers, the female officer riding in the car with Petunia.

After picking up the tea set, Jane went and checked on the boys, she didn't know which of them had started the game, but she saw that Dudley was throwing one of his plush toys and Harry would bring it back to him.

"Come on boys, let's get you a snack." Both boys followed Jane carried them down the stairs. She got them set up in the kitchen shaking her head at the improvised second high chair. After getting them a snack she went and played with them for a while. The both showed signs of crankiness so after changing them, she got them down for a nap.

James sat with his son while he dozed. When he heard the young woman descend to the first floor, James woke him up. "Harry, Daddy needs you to do something for me."

"Dadda,"his son replied once awake.

"Harry, can you call Harrison for me." James asked the toddler.

"EF Harrisn? Where?" The toddler asked looking around.

"Yes Harry, call Harrison." James used his connection to Harry's magic to push a bit of magic into Harry's next statement.

"Harrisn." Harry said. James didn't know if it was his push of magic or simply Harry's call but his trusted elf appeared.

"Young Harry, Thank goodness you are okay. I'm sorry, I felt your parents passing but until you called, I could not come." The elf babbled, turning he looked where James was standing. "Mr. James, I thought it felt like more than just Master Harry calling. I'm sorry for you and Mistress Lily's death." the elf said seeming to take in James spectral form with ease.

"Harrison, it is so good to see you. Thank you for coming." James said relieved. "I came to consciousness last night and don't know what is happening beyond the property. I need your help, but I also need you not to be discovered by my sister-in-law yet. Her husband died today and she might think it suspicious that you showed up the same day. This does mean we are in a muggle home and therefore need to be careful with magic."

"I will not be discovered sir." Harrison affirmed. While leaning down and hugging his young charge. "Master Harry, I am glad you are okay," The toddler giggled and played with Harrison's ears.

"Harrison, it would seem that Dumbledore dropped Harry off here without anything. I need to find out why he didn't go to Sirius or to Frank and Alice? Because I don't know how long that will take to resolve, I also need you to go to the goblins and have them send some things for Harry: clothes, a crib, a dresser, a high chair, a double stroller and baby supplies. It all has to be muggle and would be best if the furniture were decent quality but used. Petunia has a muggle girl helping out so it needs to be delivered in a way that will not raise suspicion. Harrison, in case Fate or Magic decides I have fulfilled my task, I need you to promise me you will take care of Harry. He is all that is left of main Potter line." James felt relief that he wasn't the only one looking out for Harry now.

"I will take care of him," the elf affirmed.

"Sir, magical paper says Black betrayed you and was captured after killing the ratman. I know is not the truth but it is what they printed. The Longbottoms were in hiding and were attacked two days ago." the elf explained.

James was aghast, how badly did security leak in Dumbledore's organization. "When is Sirius' trial? I know I am dead, but surely there is something I can do. Is Harry safe here"

"Papers say he confessed and is already in Azkaban. Papers say You-Know-Who is defeated. Other than Longbottoms, no attacks reported in last week. Many followers of Him claiming they were under _imperious_," The elf explained. meanwhile, he had calmed Harry back down to sleep.

"We'll have to figure if there is anything we can do to help Sirius, in the meantime, please go see Slipblade with my request. When you have done that, can you also go to Albus' house in Godric's hollow and see if any of our things are salvageable, if so take it to the farm for the moment." James thought the news about Voldemorte's followers claiming to be ensorceled was like his father talked about the Knights of Walpurgis. Of course it wasn't their fault, nevermind the fact that Malfoy and the Lestranges had been little death eaters when he had been a first year.

"I will take care of it Master James." The little elf kissed Harry on the brow and popped away.

James let Harry sleep, he checked the house. Dudley was snoozing in his crib. Downstairs, June was on the phone. "Mom, I don't know how long she's going to need me, but I feel like I've got to stay. First her sister dies in a car crash and then her husband. She's got the two boys to take care of. I just feel bad for her,,, How are the boys? She fussed over Dudley a lot but they're both pretty normal. They were playing together earlier-" she trailed off as the door bell rang-"Mom, I've got to go, the door bell is ringing. Yes, if you can bring me over a bag, I'm going to offer to stay the night. Love you, bye." June hung up the phone and walked towards the entryway. She opened the door to find a delivery man.

"Mrs. Dursley?" he asked looking at his clip board.

This was getting to be a regular occurrence, "No sir, she's not here right now."

"I have a delivery for Petunia and Vernon Dursley." The man said consulting his clip board.

"I'll sign for it." She said thinking of how overwhelmed Petunia must be.

He turned and walked back to his van in the drizzle. His partner got out of cab of the van. They started carrying in furniture. June directed them to put the high chair in the kitchen and directed them to carry the crib and dresser up to Dudley's bedroom. She moved the sleeping boy next to his cousin. She had the men set up the crib. She had them leave the box of baby clothes and linens downstairs. Once they were done, the delivery man with a clip board asked her to sign and then handed her a sealed letter addressed to Vernon and Petunia. As they were leaving, her mother came to the door with a bag for June. With a hug, her mother left. Noticing the time, she checked on the boys who were still snoozing, she got them up and got them in the playpens in the kitchen, she laundered the linens and checked the fridge for dinner preparation. She got some chicken soup going for herself and Petunia. The boys food was pretty obvious. Since her dinner was taken care of, she got the boys back up to their playroom.

She fed the boys and still no sign of Petunia. She played with them for a while she got them their bath and into pajamas using a pair of the ones delivered by the men earlier for Harry. She got them down to sleep and was just going back down to have some soup for dinner when Petunia came through the door.

"Oh June, I'm sorry I've kept you so long. This is so horrible and there's so much to do." Mrs. Dursley said collapsing into a chair in the kitchen.

"It's okay ma'am," June said pouring her a cup of tea.

"June dear, after everything you've done to help me, unless you feel the need to be formal for others, call me Petunia." The older woman requested.

"I fed and bathed the boys and put them down for the night. I've got dinner hot, I was about to have some myself." June said gathered bowls and spoons and dished u the soup for each of them. "Here's the letter that the delivery men left." She said placing the letter next Petunia's place setting.

"Delivery men?" the older woman said a weary look of concern coming to her face.

"Yes, they delivered the clothing, linens, and furniture this afternoon." June explained.

Mrs. Dursley opened the letter with a look of confusion. James who had been hovering read over her shoulder.

_Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, _

_My apologies for the delay in this letter and our delivery today. Following on our letter from the sixth, we only came to find out yesterday that young Master Potter was placed in your care without any belongings. If the furniture or clothing delivered today is unnecessary please have our delivery men take it back. If you have already purchased any items we are delivering, please provide me copies of the receipts for those purchases and I will have them refunded over and above the monthly stipend we are providing. If I can be of any further service, please feel free to contact me. _

_David Slipblade_

_Manager Potter Trust._

She looked over at the young woman. "What was delivered?"

"A crib, dresser, high chair, linens, and some clothing." June replied. "I had them set the crib and dresser up in the bedroom with Dudley's , it seemed logical. I'm sure we can shift things if it's not where you want him."

"We hadn't had him sleeping there," she paused, James figured she wasn't about to mention the cupboard, "since the first night, because he wasn't sleeping through the night keeping Dudley up. But if he can sleep through the night it will make things easier." Petunia said. "June, you've been invaluable today. Can I ask you to come back the next couple of days? There's so much to do. It's so overwhelming. Unfortunately I don't have anyone else. I mean I could ask Vernon's sister but she's the kind who's help might cause more work than without." The older woman said the weight of the world visibly on her shoulders.

"I'd be happy to ma'am, since I didn't know when you'd be back. My mother already brought me an overnight bag. I know things are going to be hectic for the next few days. If you need to hire me to sit the boys or even to stay over, I can use the work and I like the boys." The young woman said.

James liked her, she was nice to Harry, showed gumption when presented with the unexpected, but also looked out for herself.

"You're a life saver June." Petunia said. "Tomorrow, I have to start making funeral arrangements, go to Vernon's company and find out about his life insurance. There's just too much to do. I probably won't need you to stay over except in emergencies, but can you work for me at least for the next fortnight to help me get through this?"

"I'd be happy to." The young woman said. "Why don't we have some dinner and then I can do the wash up and head home? I can be back early in the morning."


	3. Chapter 3

Standard disclaimer, I do not own Harry Potter, Harry Potter and associated works are the property of JK Rowling, her agents, and her assignees.

Once the household was asleep, James was watching over his son when Harrison popped in.

Waving a hand over each of the boys, he said, "They will sleep until morning without bad dreams."

"Would that you could give me that peace." James observed.

"That I cannot do sir." The elf replied looking sad that there was something his master wished that he could not fulfill.

James seeing this servant and friend distressed tried to make it better. "Harrison, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. What you are doing has made me worry so much less. Since I don't know what is going on outside other than what you have said, what you are doing for me and for house Potter is essential. You should be commended. I am grateful, I'm certain that mistress Lily is grateful. Thank you."

The elf stood taller. "Thank you Master James."

"Harrison, thank you for getting to the goblins, I wasn't expecting them to act so quickly but I'm happy that they did, when next you go to the bank, please pass my thanks to Slipblade." The ghost said. "I didn't tell you earlier but part of why I felt it important for Harry to have things brought to him is when I came to last night, Harry was sleeping in the boot cupboard under the stairs." The elf was shocked. With the right magic, he might stay in that cupboard but for his charge this was wrong. "When he was hurt at breakfast and started to cry, my brother-in-law threw him back in the cupboard saying he could stay there. My sister-in-law pulled him out of the cupboard, but I have yet to see her show anything beyond basic care for him."

"I will Sir." The elf said standing next to his young charge's crib.

"Harrison, can you do things to help the house without being found out?" James asked. "pick up, make sure the house is a comfortable temperature, make sure meals turn out well?

"Sir, do not try to teach a sheep how to grow wool. Remember I went with your great-uncle to the Crimea. I know how to work around muggles." The elf said giving his deceased master a look of mild annoyance. "I will make sure the house is in good order, I can keep food fresh longer, and I can do laundry such that the Mrs. will assume the young girl did it and the girl will assume that the Mrs. did it. When spring comes, Pip will take care of the yard, not so that it is perfect but enough that it doesn't appear to need care."

"Thank you. Can you find out if Sirius is actually in Azkaban?" James asked. "Even if he killed Pettigrew, he didn't betray us."

"I will have Pip find him, because she works with crops and animals, the things that guard it will notice her less." The head elf answered.

"Good let me know." James responded.

The next several days went by quickly. June came over each day allowing Petunia to deal with the aftermath of the car crash. In the evenings, Petunia watched the two boys playing together before they went to bed. She still hadn't shown Harry any true affection but at least wasn't treating him with disdain.

James could not bring himself to feel remorse for Vernon's death. Even when he saw Petunia crying herself to sleep he thought of how callously Vernon had treated his injured son. At the funeral he was able to observe that Vernon did not appear to be a very well liked man. Only a few of his co-workers showed up to the funeral. James was able to observe Vernon's sister who at the reception at the house, made noises to Petunia of wanting to move in. Petunia visibly upset told her that even though Vernon had been helping her out financially as a widow Petunia could not. She also said that the woman's dogs would no longer be welcome in the house with two small children. James could feel the magic around a rather short somberly dressed man who offered his condolences among the neighbors bringing casseroles and uncomfortable professional associates.

"I'm sorry sir, I don't believe we've met," Petunia said. "How did you know my husband?"

"I did not Ma'am, My name is Krieg, I'm here to offer my condolences on behalf of Gringotts." The man said with an almost military bow. "Mr. Slipblade could not make it today, he is out of the country but we felt it important that a member of the Potter Trust management team be here." James assumed it was a goblin under some type of glamour given his height and the way he carried himself.

Petunia stiffened knowing that the person in front of her was obviously connected to the magical world. "Thank you for your wishes."

"Certainly ma'am." The goblin replied. "If there is anything our bank can be of service with: Investment advice, dealing with insurance, or other parts of Mr. Dursley's estate, please contact our office." He said handing her a business card.

"Thank you for your offer." Petunia said formally. Mr. Krieg bowed again and stepped away.

Surprisingly, the Goblin looked James directly in the eye and with a nod indicated that he saw him.

James followed him into the unoccupied office where the goblin put up a mild notice me not on the door.

"Mr. Potter, it is almost unheard of that the goblins take direction from a ghost, but given the option of a muggle guardian who would have to be completely educated in our ways and Albus Dumbledore, we will take limited direction from a ghost former head of house where the affairs of the heir of said ancient house are concerned."

"Krieg, why would you be concerned with Dumbledore?" James asked.

"We are concerned with some of the moves he has made including claiming to be the boy's magical guardian even though Mr. Black has not been convicted of any crimes that would remove him from being the boy's magical guardian. There could be no ill will involved but that does not mean we will not be cautious." Krieg explained. "Is there anything else you would like Gringotts to do at this point?"

"My sister-in-law has had a young neighbor girl who is out of work help take care of my son. I would like you to a check her background and offer based on the changed circumstances to have the Potter trust pay for a nanny to help my sister-in-law out." James said after some thought.

"We will do that sir. If there is nothing else I will take my leave."

"I may also require your help in effecting Mr. Black's release from custody since he has not been convicted of any crimes." Seeing the goblin tighten slightly he continued. "Nothing that would endanger any treaty agreements but I may request your help." James said.

"We will consider it, but I cannot guarantee any help in that endeavor." The goblin responded.

When James nodded, the goblin left dispelling the notice me not.

That night, when the house was asleep, Harrison appeared to James with another elf Pip.

"Master James," the female elf said, "I have found Dogfather Sirius." She said using the nick name that Sirius had insisted on when named Harry's godfather. "He is in bad place."

"He's in Azkaban?" James asked.

"Yes sir," the smaller elf said.

"Were you able to see him?" James asked hoping his friend was okay. James knew from his hit wizard training that other than anti-transportation wards Azkaban mostly relied on the dementors for protection a logic that he didn't agree with given the fact that several of the dementors followed Voldemort the last couple years.

"Yes sir, He was huddled as dog in the corner of his cell. Bad things did not seem to notice him." Pip said.

"Pip, did they notice you?" James asked concerned that his servant would endanger herself to follow his orders.

"No sir, Pip is very good at thinking like animal. It is why I like working with the stock. Bad creatures ignored me." The elf said.

"Can you take him food and potions?" James asked.

"Yes sir, the wards don't stop elves." Pip said.

"Please see that he is fed and bring him chocolate, warm clothes, and strengthening potions." James requested. "We will get him out of there and I want him as strong as possible when we do."

Two days later, Petunia received in the regular post a letter from Gringotts, In it Slipblade said that Mr. Krieg had recommended that due to her husband's passing the trust provide additional assistance. He went on to say that although the trust did not have authority to provide additional monetary assistance they could provide for care and tutors. If she decided that a nanny would be helpful she only had to provide the information for her chosen candidate and assuming they passed a background check Gringotts would pay their salary. James watched this development with great interest. His sister-in-law still wasn't really showing affection to his son she seemed to cling to Dudley, but June was treating him the way James would wish. After talking to the young woman who agreed that she would like to go back to school the next fall but would be willing to take the position until then and would discuss beyond that once she knew what she was doing. Petunia contacted Gringotts and submitted June's name. After Mr. Krieg returned to interview her, a formality since the goblins had already researched her, he had her sign an employment contract.

The young woman decided to move in taking the guest room for sake of ease.

Pip on returning from visiting Sirius advised James that Sirius recognized her after a few minutes and brightened when she told him that they knew he hadn't betrayed the Potters and were working on his freedom, but didn't know how soon it would happen.

As November wound down, the insurance settlements came through giving Petunia some financial security that wasn't tied to Harry, since she didn't have to worry about the mortgage on the home, she looked at investments. James watched her come back looking particularly upset from a meeting with her banker. She went to the desk in the office and pulled out the card that Krieg had given her at the funeral. James stood close enough that he could hear both sides of the conversation when Petunia called.

"Gringotts trust management, how may I help you?" a pleasant voice on the other end of the phone asked.

"This is Petunia Dursley, I'd like to speak to Mr. Slipblade or someone in his office." She said.

"One moment, let me transfer your call."

It was almost a full minute later when Krieg's voice came over the line. "Mrs. Dursley, How can Gringotts help you today?"

"Mr. Krieg, I've just come from a rather frustrating meeting with my normal banker. He is an old school friend of my deceased husband's. He was talking about using investments to divert the support payments we-I am receiving to care for my nephew. Said it was something he had discussed with my husband." Petunia paused looking to make sure that June wasn't near, "Sir, I didn't have much contact with your people, But I know our literature has a maxim 'Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.'"

Mr. Krieg chuckled, a disconcerting sound. "Ah Tolkien, a wonderful man if a bit biased on some things. I know that you could not know that my associates and I, for the most part aren't wizards, but I understand your meaning Mrs. Dursley. I applaud your judgment, I would not want to be caught defrauding one of our clients. Since it sounds like you have chosen not to take part in this proposed scheme, is there anything else I can help you with today?"

"Well Sir, after he brought up that subject, I felt uncomfortable using him to invest the settlement that I received from the insurance companies." Mrs. Dursley said. "I let my late husband deal with these things so I unfortunately don't know who else to turn to. You mentioned that you could provide investment advice."

"As a member of the Potter household, we can provide that service. If you would like, I can have one of my representatives come by your home to view the financials that you have and then offer some options." The goblin offered.

"I would like that. Please have your person call me to set an appointment." Petunia said.

"I will. good day madam." The goblin said ending the call.

Over the next few months, the fact that Petunia decided she could trust the goblin bankers more than her husband's friend became a turning point in how she treated Harry. She still wasn't overly affectionate to Harry but with the goblins setting up an investment strategy that would provide her financial security when she could no longer rely on the support of the Potter family, she looked on him with some warmth. She decided that because she had June as a Nanny, that she would look for job outside the home. Using the secretarial and bookkeeping certificates that she had earned before marrying Vernon, she found a doctor's office that needed a book-keeper three days a week to do billing. One day in January James heard Petunia gasp as she was reading the morning paper. He looked over her shoulder, one of the headlines was of a local financier that had been arrested for embezzlement, the article inferred that there were connections to organized crime. James recognized the name, and wondered if the man would have been arrested if he hadn't been part of a conspiracy to cheat a trust client of the goblins. As winter turned into spring, things at number four privet drive became rather normal. James enjoyed watching his son grow happy and confident.

In June, in preparation for the plan that he and Slipblade had agreed upon to free Sirius, Krieg in his human disguise talked Petunia into increasing security on the property with the explanation that there were some developments going on in the wizarding world that it was best to be prepared for. Harrison had taken to bringing James the Daily Prophet and turning the pages for him so he could read it.

The offensive started with the headline. **Barty Crouch Found Harboring Fugitive**, the article went on to proclaim that aurors had arrested Barty Crouch after an anonymous tip led to the discovery of his thought to be deceased death eater son being held by Crouch Sr. in the family home. James had from Slipblade a note which detailed that the goblins had been using round about methods to push a young journalist that they had discovered was an unregistered beetle animagus to investigate various people in the current government. When she had discovered that Barty Crouch Sr. was holding his son under the _imperius _in his home, a son that was a convicted death eater that the wizarding world thought had died in Azkaban, the editor of the prophet, again with subtle push from the goblins had gone to the newly appointed head of the DMLE, Amelia Bones, letting her in on their scoop so that they could have an exclusive of the arrest.

Just as the public outcry over this was reaching a fever pitch, The prophet broke the next scandal, a detailed account of the "Charitable donations" which the paper said were bribes paid by the death eaters that had claimed _imperius_. The evidence was from a supposedly outraged ministry official but was actually detailed notes from Gringotts The prophet called for re-opening the investigation of all suspected death eaters. In the early morning hours before this headline broke the plan was for Sirius to escape using his animagus form to get past the dementors and then a wand and shrunken broom to fly off the island and meet a goblin boat that would take him to safety. The next day's prophet didn't even mention Sirius' escape buried as it was would have been by the headlines that supposedly unwilling death eaters Crab and Goyle were killed in Diagon Alley. Their killer had conjured signs and stuck them to the bodies saying "Let Them Eat Death". This made for a shocking picture on the front page. Since prisoners in Azkaban were only fed once a day Sirius' escape was discovered that evening along with the bodies of the Lestranges. The next morning's prophet included the headline about Sirius' escape but the sub headline "The Prisoner Speaks" The Prophet published a letter that Sirius had sent the previous afternoon. His letter claimed that he was tossed in prison without a trial and that although he was guilty of dueling with Pettigrew, who he claimed actually escaped, he was not the betrayer of the Potters, that was Pettigrew. He blamed Crouch Sr. as the main person responsible for his incarceration without a trial but asked the Wizengamot how the heir of an ancient house could be imprisoned without a trial. He claimed that he decided to remove himself from custody, his words since he was not convicted of any crime. He did admit to killing the Lestranges but said that he felt justified after spending months listening to the three of them brag about what they did to his friends Frank and Alice Longbottom and the things they promised they would do to his Godson Harry Potter when their master returned and they escaped. He also cited the fact that if he could be thrown in jail without a trial there was nothing stopping those behind his imprisonment from having him quietly kissed while in custody to avoid having to answer any questions. Black claimed to have left England until he could be guaranteed a fair trial.

The prophet printed excerpts from Bellatrix Lestrange's trial to show her violence and insanity as well as a statement that their researchers could find no record of a trial for Sirius Black. Augusta Longbottom was quoted as saying "I don't know if he's innocent of the other things he is suspected of doing, but putting down those rabid dogs is a public service. I would like to see him get his day in court and I would speak on his behalf in the matter of terminating the Lestrange line." A statement from Arcturus Black who although he had retired from public life, called upon the Wizengamot to investigate how the heir of a pure blood house could suffer this travesty of justice.

In reality Sirius was recovering on the Potter farm under the _fidelus_ charm and various other wards. He was able to contact his Grandfather through the goblins. Because he could not visit Privet Drive, it was impractical for him to learn everything. At first he thought James or Lily had survived and was distraught at the confirmation that they did not. When he learned that James as a ghost was directing matters he laughed for hours, or so Harrison told James.

The day Sirius escaped Albus Dumbledore appeared at four Privet Drive, or tried to anyway, the improved goblin wards prevented him from entering the property line. So he waited down the block for someone to emerge from the property. James observed this, not wanting to be seen. He had been expecting this when Sirius escaped.

When Petunia emerged from the property, he approached her.

"Mrs. Dursley, there are matters of grave importance afoot, I must speak with you and your husband as soon as possible." He said to her.

"Mr. Dumbledore I presume?" she said looking him up and down, his lovely yellow paisley suite may have been dandy in 1920 or pushing it in a club in London in 1977 but in 1982 in Surrey was out of place.

"Yes Ma'am, Albus Dumbledore. As I said I need to speak with you and your husband regarding young Harry's safety." The old man said imperiously.

"Mr. Dumbledore," she said drawing herself erect, "if you were at all concerned with my family, you would know that my husband passed away over half a year ago. My sister's family made arrangements before her death to insure that her son would be safe where ever he was and that her family would be taken care of. I know you do not mean me any ill will as the wards still let you find our home, so good day. You should know that the goblins hired by my deceased sister felt the protection you provided was rather incomplete. If you will excuse me, I must be off. Please let my family and I live in peace I don't want anything to do with your world."

"But madam, you know that when he turns eleven, he will come to us to be educated." Dumbledore said trying to regain ground.

"I know Sir, I remember when Lily went away to school." Petunia took a breath, "When he turns eleven, you can expect him in your school, but until then he is the last I have of my sister."

James was so shocked by this statement that he didn't hear the final exchange between the two.


	4. Chapter 4

Over the next months, the papers, bore interesting information. There were several death eaters whose acquittals were re-certified as they had actually been under the imperious when they had gone to the ministry. James didn't think this actually proved they were innocent just that they showed signs of the spell. Several of the less cagey individuals ended in prison. Acquittals did not stop three more of them being killed when they ventured out in public. James had been told by Sirius that he was able to contact Arcturus Black, Sirius' grandfather, who although he refused to come out of seclusion — Sirius said he had too many enemies to safely walk down Diagon Alley — had written letters and contacted old acquaintances and even named a proxy for his seat in the Wizengamot, Adrian Greengrass, the son of an old house ally. The Black seat had remained vacant for several years even though during the war there were rumors that Lucius Malfoy and Rabastian Lestrange were going to take up the seat.

Adrian Greengrass' first action mentioned in the paper after his appointment was a call for an investigation into the Sirius Black affair. After several delaying tactics, the Trial for the Crouchs finally began in the new year. 1983 proved to hold good news for Sirius. Since Barty Crouch Jr. was found under the imeperius and testimony showed that he was not complicit in his escape from Azkaban He was summarily thrown back in Azkaban. Barty Sr., for his role in breaking his son out of Azkaban and use of an unforgivable, was sentenced to life in Azkaban and given a cell across from his son so that they could be together. James thought it was a good thing that as the mastermind of Sirius' escape, he was already dead.

During his trial, Crouch Sr. was questioned extensively about the events surrounding Sirius Black's incarceration, once Mr. Greengrass had been able to have charges of conspiracy to murder the heir of a noble house added to Crouch's docket. Several aurors were interviewed. When it turned out that the damning confession that caused them to decide that a trial was not necessary was Sirius' hysterical statement that it was his fault at the scene of the duel with Pettigrew, There was outrage on the part of the purebloods. Millicent Bagnold was able to maintain her position as Minister but only by claiming that she had received horrible advice and hadn't actually been part of any discussion. This was the same argument that Dumbledore used and neither of them lost their positions but it did cost them political capital.

Millicent Bagnold saved her career by preemptively offering Sirius a pardon for his escape from Azkaban and his involvement in the deaths of the Lestranges along with an acquittal on all charges related to the deaths of the Potters, Pettigrew, and the twelve muggles killed during his battle with Pettigrew, on the contingency that he submit to questioning either under oath or truth serum. Sirius was actually out of the country on family business when this happened, having completely recovered from his ordeal in Azkaban, so it took several months to clear him.

While this circus was happening, time marched on. By the time the papers had proclaimed Sirius' pardon/acquittal, Harry was a happy three-year old chasing and being chased by his cousin around the park near their home. Jane had chosen to continue working as a nanny while going to school two days and one night a week to become a teacher. As things calmed around Privet Drive and Petunia viewed Harry and Dudley more and more as her two boys, James found himself spending more time merged in with Harry. He felt his connection to Harry's magic grow. He wasn't an expert on toddler magical cores, but he thought that Harry's magic was very strong. He used his connection to Harry occasionally to calm his magic so that he would not express accidental magic in public. He noticed that this directing of Harry's magic seemed to make the channels of magic within Harry's body more defined.

After almost two years, Harrison had gotten rather good at taking letters for James. James received a letter from Sirius when he finally returned to Great Britain and met with the DMLE, Albus Dumbledore had met with him telling him it was essential that Harry remain living with the Dursleys. Sirius had already discussed with James that for the present it was simplest but didn't let this slip, trying to get Dumbledore to reveal more of his plans. After much hemming and hawing and intimating that he knew best which Sirius countered making reference to his time in club Azkaban, Dumbledore finally revealed more information letting him know of his suspicions that Voldemort was not completely gone and that the protection that had been extended to Harry by his mother's sacrifice was extended to Petunia and her family as long as he resided with Lily's blood relative Petunia.

James thought this must be wrong, it didn't make sense unless Dumbledore had tied the protection that Harry had into the ward scheme for the property. That meddling son of a bitch.

Sirius told James that he didn't make any promises but let Dumbledore think he agreed with him. Once his name was cleared, James recommended that Sirius contact Petunia through muggle means. Although she had become comfortable with the representatives of Gringott's, Dumbledore appearing unannounced had been met with a negative reaction. James was certain that a letter in the normal post or a phone call would make a much better first impression. Sirius was a much different man from the brash eighteen year old that Petunia had met at James and Lily's wedding. His experience of war and prison followed by direct tutelage from his grandfather made him a much more cautious man.

Sirius' letter arrived via normal post. James read it over Petunia's shoulder, in it Sirius first asked forgiveness for unintentionally causing discomfort to her and her husband at James and Lily's wedding. Sirius said that he had just returned to the country and had been unable to contact her previously. He said that he knew that she was Harry's guardian but he would, if she would permit it, like to be a part of his life and provide him a connection to his father's family and the heritage that he would need to know when he entered the wizarding world for schooling.

It was several days later that Petunia typed up a letter to Sirius. James had been watching for this. In it, she told Sirius that she understood that it was important that Harry knew his heritage and said that it would be acceptable for him to come to the house as long as he understood that she lived in a normal neighborhood and had a non-magical nanny for the boys. She advised him that he needed to contact Mr. Krieg and Gringott's to be keyed into the wards.

The day came for Sirius to show up. Gone was the rebel from his family wearing ripped jeans and rock and roll shirts. In his place Sirius had his hair trimmed neatly although long and held back in a queue as was tradition for the heir of a noble family. He was dressed respectably as a muggle. He drove up in a tan Range Rover, the four door utility vehicle was a bit out of the norm for the neighborhood but was still respectably British.

The greeting between Petunia and Sirius at the door was stiff as she ushered him in. He brought toys for both boys and was introduced to them as Uncle Sirius. Both boys were little chatterboxes once they got over being shy. Harry, probably because in addition to Petunia and Jane had James speaking to him constantly, had a slightly more developed vocabulary. It being a nice day, they took the boys to the park letting them run around. After a while of pushing both boys on the swings, Sirius let Jane take over. Walking over to the table bench that Petunia sat at, he sat down.

James watched with interest.

"I don't know how you do it Petunia," Sirius said, "The level of energy those two have is amazing."

"They are something aren't they?" Petunia asked smiling. Jane had them chasing a ball back and forth and the happy shrieks of the toddlers were music to her ears. "I would be hard pressed without Jane's help."

"She does seem wonderful with them." Sirius said smiling, watching the young woman play with the boys.

"I don't know what I'm going to do once she is out of university and moves on to find a career." Petunia said.

"Things will work out," Sirius opined. He went back to where the boys were playing and was quickly mobbed by two squealing toddlers.

When the boys were worn down, they went back to Four Privet and put them down for a nap. Jane said her goodbye's to Sirius and left to meet some classmates prior to her evening at university.

Settled down with tea Sirius and Petunia talked.

The mother replied. "After Vernon passed away, I was fortunate the Potter trust authorized her salary in addition to payments they were already providing. At the time I still hadn't completely accepted Harry. To me he was a burden thrust on me by my sister and that Damn Dumbledore man."

"Yes, Dumbledore does tend to ride rough over anyone and everyone. He assumes that he knows best and no one could ever object to his plans." Sirius observed.

"You sound like you're no longer in accord with him. I remember James and Lily were in that group of his with you and your other friends. It all sounded kind of paramilitary if you ask me." Petunia said.

"No, I'm not. Even though I was part of his group, there were suspicions about me that ended up with me being thrown in prison for eight months. I had done nothing wrong but Albus never came forward to help me and in fact washed his hands of the whole affair. It actually wasn't completely resolved until just a month ago, which is why I'm back in the country now." The former Marauder said. "That and, in addition to James and Lily being killed, other friends of ours were attacked due to security breaches in his group. Some of the things he's done since the troubles ended also make no sense. So no, on general principals I would be very suspicious of anything that man asked."

"Good. He dropped Harry on our door step without so much as a by your leave saying we would receive protection and financial support for taking care of him. Never once asking if this was acceptable and, you may remember, my husband was not someone who dealt well with things out of the ordinary." Petunia paused looking out the kitchen window. "Thankfully Gringott's did come through with the promised financial support and then when Vernon passed, they authorized Jane's salary. Dumbledore didn't show up for the funeral and, in fact, didn't appear until the following summer." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "You said you were in prison for eight months. Was that why he contacted me last summer, because you were released from prison?"

"Yes, my release from Prison along with a couple other things caused a huge upset in our world. Dumbledore wasn't exaggerating, there are those who would harm you just because you are some of Harry's last living relatives and that would be true whether he lived here or in Antarctica." Sirius looked at Petunia, "Because his mother died to protect him and had cast spells of protection on him, by living with you who share his mother's blood, this protection is strengthened by your love for him. The wards that protect him also provide protection for you and Dudley as his relatives. I know you had the goblins add to these protections but the base protection is based on your blood relationship."

Petnunia was looking at him taking in this bombshell.

"You did know that Gringott's was run by goblins?" Sirius asked.

"Yes, Mr. Krieg corrected me once when I referred to them as wizards and then politely informed me of the reality."

"Yes, the wizarding bank here in England is run by goblins. They are a warrior race and quite vicious when wronged but they view earning profit as giving almost as much glory as victory in battle. They will also honor an agreement to the last drop of their blood if necessary." Sirius explained. "I've met Krieg, he must like you if he didn't take offense at being referred to as a wizard."

"I think he just understood that I didn't know any better. I've met Mr. Krieg as well, short man about five foot, natty suit. Very stiff manners. He looked as human as you or I." Petunia said.

"If he came to your house, he almost certainly would appear human." Sirius said.

In a statement that just proved to James how much things had changed in the last two years Petunia continued, "Well goblin or not, they have dealt fairly with me and been more and better help than either my husband's banker or relatives. I've known the last two years that by taking Harry in, that magic was going to be a part of my life." Changing the subject she said, "So a Range Rover. It's a bit flash, but flash in a way I wouldn't expect. From the one time I met you I would assume an Italian sports car or something big and American."

"I was an idiot at eighteen," Sirius said with a grin. "This is practical. I live on a farm near Peak District the roads are not as good as yours here so this is just practical. You and the boys should come visit, maybe make a holiday of it."

"I don't know, I mean, the boys don't know about magic and even if we don't ask her to go, Dudley and Harry would almost certainly let something slip to Jane, they are getting to that age." Petunia said.

"Well, there are spells that we use to protect magical children preventing them from talking about magic in front of people who don't know and I would wager that Jane's contract includes a magically binding clause to not discuss your family secrets." Sirius offered.

"I will have to talk to Mr. Krieg," Petunia said.

"Just let me know." Sirius said. "Is there anything you need? Harry is my godson so I want to make sure your family is well taken care of."

"For the present I think we are okay." Petunia replied, "Between the support of the Potter trust, my salary, and what my husband provided for us, we are very secure."

"Good," Sirius replied. Taking the opportunity that he and James had discussed he continued, "If there is anything that you need urgently, there is a way to contact me. Harry's family had magical servants that can be used to carry messages."

"What type of magical servant?" Petunia asked.

"They are called house elves. They are like the legends of brownies but take their strength from the magic of the family and the magic of their home," Sirius explained.

"Is this why I haven't had to do any yard work in the last two years and neither Jane nor I have to expend very much effort to keep the house in tip top shape?" Petunia asked comprehension dawning.

"Yes, they take their commitment to the family very seriously. May I call them and introduce you?" Sirius asked.

"Yes." Petunia said

"Pip, Harrison, could you come please?" Sirius intoned.

"Mr. Sirius, you called?" The two elves said appearing next to the table.

"Pip, Harrison," Sirius said indicating each elf for Petunia's benefit, "I've let Ms. Petunia know that you can reach me if she needs me for anything,"

The two elves looked at the muggle woman, "Ma'am," Harrison said nodding.

"Am I correct that you two have both helped around the house since Harry came to live here?" Petunia asked.

"Yes ma'am, we've taken care of what we could without being noticed." Harrison answered.

"Thank you, I appreciate what you have done." Petunia said to the two small beings.

"Ms. Petunia can call us if you need anything we will try to help." Pip said beaming at the woman's praise. The two elves sensing they were no longer needed disappeared.

"Well Mr. Black, any other bits of information that you feel it appropriate to share." Petunia said turning back to Sirius.

"Well, I should probably give you a bit of an overview of what's happened in the wizarding world, particularly my part." Sirius then went on to explain how his release from prison was actually a break out — leaving out of course the influence of a particular ghost, but that he had been acquitted of all charges. Petunia was shocked at first but by the end was nodding in understanding.

"The house elves I probably should have introduced more delicately but with Harry's third birthday having passed, you will probably see some accidental magic." Sirius explained. James watching the exchange hoped they hadn't caused problems for Harry.

"I understand, I remember some of Lily's accidental magic. I thought it was so cool, but it caused my mother no end of worry, especially when she turned her blue dress yellow." Petunia Paused, "Is there a reason your people don't tell — is muggleborn the right word? — about magic sooner?

"I really can't explain that, I personally think it would be better to tell people sooner so they don't think they or their child is crazy. Lily preferred the terms mundane and first generation. But yeah most wizards use the term muggle." Sirius responded.

"Well, I'll know with Harry right?" Petunia asked. "Harry is magical?"

"Yes, he is. He actually showed some signs of magic at one. I can only assume that the trauma James and Lily's deaths closed him off. Now that he's hit his third birthday his magical core will become more stable and start to expand. You will almost certainly see some signs of magic soon." Sirius answered.

Their conversation moved on to other things and soon it was time for Sirius to leave.

The next day Petunia sent a note off to Gringotts

_Krieg,_

_It has come to my attention through a friend of the family, Sirius Black, that with the passing of Harry's third birthday, it extremely likely that accidental magic will begin to show itself. Is there anything in the employment contract that will prevent Ms. Dorret from discussing this outside the house? If not, is there anything you can recommend to help keep my family's secrets?_

_ Respectfully,_

_ Petunia Dursley_

Krieg's response two days later made things easier.

_Ma'am,_

_Part of why we were so quickly able to approve Ms. Dorret's employment contract is that she has magical family in France. They are English who fled the war in the seventies. One of her mother's cousins works for our organization in France and was able to confirm that she knows of magic. Like you, she has enough latent magic that if she were born to a magical family she would be considered a squib which makes the secrecy clauses in her employment contract magically binding. To our knowledge she has no contact with anyone in the magical world in Britain. Whether you discuss this with her is at your discretion but rest assured her contract will prevent her from discussing it with anyone you don't approve._

_ Krieg_

_ Client Liaison Potter trust_

With the knowledge that she shared something else in common with the young woman, magical relatives, Petunia approached her employee.

"Jane, could you join me for a cuppa?" she asked.

Jane had just gotten the boys down for their nap and was folding some laundry. "Of course Petunia, What do you need?"

Jane followed Petunia into the kitchen and sat while her employer went about getting a pot steeping.

"Jane, I wanted to talk to you about something. It seems we have something in common," Petunia started, Jane looked perplexed, "we both know that magic is real."

"Sorry Ma'am what?" Jane replied.

"I know that you are bound by a secrecy oath in your contract to not share what happens in my house outside of my house. I figured it would be best to discuss this with you prior to any incidents occurring." Mrs. Dursley said.

"I'm still not sure what you are getting at." The young girl said now concerned.

"My nephew is my sister's son, I know I told you that she and her husband were layabouts, but the truth is they were only if you looked at records in mundane England. Neither passed their A levels, they didn't have degrees, and Inland Revenue didn't show any income return for either of them. This is because they were both magicals. Like you mother's cousin," The older woman explained, causing the girl's eyes to widen. "I'm bringing this up because my nephew is magical. Mr. Black was a friend of my sister's and her husband. There is a slight possibility that Dudley could also be magical but only a small chance. Now because Harry is magical, it is likely that within the next six months he will start to show accidental magic. I've talked to Mr. Black and Mr. Krieg about this and they will help me/us deal with this as long as you are comfortable with it."

"Ma'am, I'm sorry I was told in no uncertain terms that I wasn't supposed to discuss it outside the family, I probably wouldn't know if she didn't have a daughter my age that I have gotten to know." The young woman explained her evasion. "Some of the stories sound like accidental magic can be somewhat trying to deal with."

"Fortunately unlike when Lily was going through it, we have a bit of help. Mr. Black has said he will make himself available as well as Krieg, The bank that manages the Potter trust is magical." Petunia assured her, getting up to pour the tea. "If something happens that you need help with we can get help."

"Then I'm sure we'll get by just fine then." Jane replied.

"Since you know about magic there is one other thing. Mr. Black has invited us to visit his farm, it is a magical household. I'm sure you are invited but you are also welcome to enjoy your time off while we spend a few days there."

"As long as it doesn't conflict with school, I'd like to join," Jane said. "I miss the magic of my cousin's home in France."

"I will contact Mr. Black and find out when a good time would be." Petunia said.

It turned out that the last week of August was the best for all their schedules. Sirius hadn't been kidding about the roads. Petunia was glad it hadn't rained in the prior four days or she might not have been able to drive all the way to the house. They were given directions to the nearest town. When they met Sirius there getting two squirmy toddlers out of the car for a few minutes, Sirius handed them each an envelope. In it was a letter on Gringotts stationary.

_The Potter Farm is located at the refuge of Peverel. _After each of them had looked at the letter, Sirius burned the letters banishing the ashes.

They then followed Sirius to the farm.

When they arrived Sirius introduced Jane and the boys to Pip and Harrison. Both boys giggled and Jane was struck dumb. The week they spent on the farm was relaxing. The boys were too young to go horseback riding but Pip showed them the horses and the sheep, the chickens and the milk cows. Before they left the farm to return to Surrey, Sirius cast the secrecy spell to prevent them from talking about magic with anyone.


	5. Chapter 5

Standard disclaimer, I do not own Harry Potter, Harry Potter and associated works are the property of JK Rowling, her agents, and her assignees.

Author's note

My posting schedule is likely to be thrown off for the next week or two. I've been one to two chapters ahead in writing of what I am posting. A mandatory evacuation due to wild fires left me limited on time and too brain scattered to write for the last week.

Man of Constant Sorrow, Thank you for the concrit.

Life returned to normal in Surrey. Sirius came over every weekend and Harrison still brought the paper to James. One morning in September, Harry showed his first outward sign of accidental magic, Jane had picked him up and was pointing them out together in a mirror when Harry's hair changed to match Jane's brown hair. Jane was caught by surprise. James had been watching the interplay between his son and the nanny and was surprised but pleased. He focused on Harry's magic to try to see if it was just an accidental color change charm or a sign that he might be a metamorph like Sirius' niece.

"Harry, thank you, you made your hair like mine," Jane said having prepared herself for the young boy to show magic. "Can you make it go back to normal?"

The little boy scrunched up his face and his hair went back to the unruly black.

"Very Good, Harry" the young woman said.

In the greater wizarding world, things were not as calm. The man who killed Crabbe and Goyle had been apprehended. It turned out he was a muggleborn whose family had been killed in a Death Eater raid. Despite this mitigating circumstance, he was sentenced to life in Azkaban over the objections of Madame Longbottom and Adrian Greengrass. This only increased already simmering tensions between purebloods and muggleborn. Sirius told James that it was starting to sound like it did in the mid-seventies again.

Petunia and the boys spent the Yule and Christmas holiday at Potter Farm with a visit to Black Manor near Auchencairn. Arcturus wanted to meet his great nephew and heir presumptive.

At Potter Farm, Sirius presented them all with gifts but also showed Petunia what had been salvageable from Godric's hollow. He regaled them with the story of a one year old Harry chasing Lily's cat around the house on the little broom. Harry rode the broom around the yard. At first Petunia was livid with Sirius until he told her about the safety features on the broom, cushioning charms as well as limiters to how fast and how high it could go. They were both surprised when Dudley picked it up after Harry got off and it took off.

"Petunia, it's not that surprising, your family has produced at least one very powerful magical," Sirius said after Petunia had calmed down a little, realizing that the broom could only move across the yard at a walking pace. "Lily was one of the most powerful witches I've ever met. She was more powerful than my cousin Bella who was deemed the strongest witch to graduate from Hogwarts in decades. There are several levels of magical. There are squibs with the ability to brew and use potions and sign magical contracts. The goblins told me that both you and Jane fall into this category. You can benefit from magical healing and could use a portkey but you would have a very difficult time operating something like that broom. Dudley may be a wizard, but he could also be a squib with a large core, which would mean he has enough magic to brew potions and work things like brooms or other magical objects that take their energy from the user's core even if he doesn't have a big enough core to direct through a wand for spells. Somewhere in between there is the level of magic required to sense ghosts."

"I thought ghosts could only exist in a magically charged place like Hogwarts?" Petunia asked. "At least that's what I remember Lily saying."

"Well, places like Hogwarts and the Tower of London that are heavily infused with magic make it much easier for them to be seen." Sirius explained. "I've seen the ghost of James. Or at least I think I have. He kept me sane while I was in prison." Sirius paused, "I think maybe Harry can see him sometimes."

"I think you're right. I've told myself that he just was developing an imaginary friend but I've heard him say Da' several times." Petunia replied.

"Dying violently while trying to save his wife and child could easily account for a restless spirit. When his task is done, he will move on." Sirius said looking over to the porch where James was taking this all in and nodding.

Christmas of 1983 also brought another member to their family. Sirius had been able to track down Remus Lupin in Canada. He was able to convince him to come back to Great Britain and work for him as an agent of the house of Black.

1984 brought new changes, Millicent Bagnold chose not to run again for minister and her replacement turned out to be Cornelius Fudge, the former junior minister for the department for magical accidents and catastrophes. James remembered him vaguely from his time at the ministry and thought he was a complete stuffed shirt. Sirius was concerned as he had heard rumors that Fudge was backed by Nott and Malfoy. The new Wizengamot session saw more immediate changes for Sirius. Adrian Greengrass' father had become ill over the winter holidays and asked his son to act as proxy for his seats. He let Arcturus know and Sirius took up the Black seat in addition to acting as proxy for the Potter seat. The Wizengamot was fractured. There was Dumbledore's faction and the purebloods, then the neutrals of which the Greengrass, Black, and Potter found themselves due to Sirius' break with Dumbledore. They also shared a loose alliance with house Longbottom. Although the Longbottoms and Potters had previously been staunch supporters of Dumbledore, Frank and Alice being attacked even with Dumbledore's security recommendations and the death of James and Lily made Augusta reject his leadership. Dumbledore continued to hold the position of Chief Warlock but seemed to hold a very hands off attitude to the Wizengamot, speaking his mind vocally outside the chamber but doing little inside the chamber to push his agenda.

Two events caused Sirius to lose all respect for Dumbledore. The fact that Dumbledore hired Serverus Snape to take over the potions professorship at Hogwarts and made him the youngest head of house in three hundred years and the fact that his only comment during the trial of the muggleborn who killed Crabbe and Goyle was to say that killing was never the answer. Dumbledore may have said that Snape spied for the light, but he was still a Death Eater. Sirius told James that he felt that Mike Johnson, the muggleborn who was tossed in Azkaban for killing Crabbe and Goyle was completely justified in his actions and was disappointed that Dumbledore, that supposed champion of muggleborn rights, would not push for clemency given how few of the Death Eaters saw real justice.

Petunia told Jane about the event at Christmas with the broom which had both of them watching Dudley for accidental magic. They hadn't seen anything by the time spring arrived although Harry had shown a few more instances of accidental magic, mostly changing his hair and eye color which James and Sirius thought meant he was a metamorph. He also summoned and banished things on occasion. He summoned his padfoot plush and a ball that was rolling towards him would suddenly roll away from him. When Petunia discussed this with Sirius, he raised a possible difficulty this created.

"So the other signs of accidental magic are happening when he is excited," Sirius observed.

"Yes, if he gets excited enough, his magic comes out." Petunia confirmed.

"But the hair and eyes changing doesn't seem to be dependent on how excited he is?" Sirius asked, already knowing this from letters back and forth with James.

"No, it doesn't seem to be dependent on excitement although so far he has just mimicked Jane, or Dudley and I."

"There is a special ability among magicals that this could indicate. I have a cousin whose daughter currently exhibits this talent. It is referred to as metamorphamagus. Once he can control it, it will mean that depending on the level of ability he has, he will be able to change his features at will. It is seen when a wizard has incredibly strong connection to his magic. There is one problem though," Sirius said pausing. "My cousin's daughter wasn't able to control it until she was nine years old and as his magic grows Harry will show more frequent morphing, so mundane school would be very hard for Harry."

"I can see how that would be the case. Lily's accidental magic was all at home except one time when a bully was picking on her at school." Petunia answered worried about her nephew.

"We don't have to make any decisions right now, we can watch it and see," Sirius said to calm her. Bringing up something he had discussed with James, he continued. "There is one simple possible solution to think about. Jane is working on her teaching credential, she along with some other tutors could teach Harry or both boys. If Dudley shows magic, he can be educated in the magical world. If not he should be prepared for and with the influence of Gringott's, you should be able to get him into a good selective school to prepare him for university."

"Even if they are magical, I'd like both of my boys to finish their mundane education. I don't want them to not be able to function in our society." Petunia declared.

Sirius' next letter to James relayed that Sirius brought this up to his Grandfather during his weekly meeting with him. Arcturus approved of the idea not so much for the muggle education but to better prepare him for his role as Head of the Potter family and more contingent role as Lord Black. He once again pushed Sirius to find a spouse since Sirius had again and again turned down his Grandfather's attempts to bring up a marriage contract.

James read the letter from Sirius detailing the discussion. 'Sirius, I think it is a good idea, but it isn't feasible for you to let more people in on the secret of your current residence without risking the secret being compromised,' his grandfather stated. 'Besides, as my Heir, you are turning twenty-five this year, I think it high time you had a household of your own. Since Grimauld Place is still in possession of your mother, I shall grant you Douglas House. It is close enough to your current residence that you can still frequent the same town without trouble. I need to address Walberga's claim to have the voice of the family simply because I do not go out in Society. If she claims again that you are thrown out of the family, I will go to Gringott's and have her formally disowned. I cannot do it given the current political shift against muggleborn but please know that when you are Lord Black I want you to reinstate your cousin Andromeda back into the family.' James smiled when he read this, Sirius' mother had made the same claim when he was a teenager it wasn't until he was out of Azkaban that he knew that his grandfather had formally declared him heir.

James remembered Douglas House from his childhood, one of his mother's uncles was the master of the house at the time. It was a large Edwardian house with grounds and green houses. He thought it would be a good place for Harry and Dudley to learn.

Sirius' letter also mentioned that there was more grumbling about the rise of the muggleborn in society. James and Sirius both saw that it had more to do with the vacuum created by extinction of many pureblood families, thanks to Voldemort, more than muggleborn trying to quote rise above their station. Sirius had been able to use his inheritance from his Uncle Alphard to purchase many commercial properties cheaply. The Goblins had done the same for House Potter cutting out several "innocent" Death Eaters from buying business interests.

That summer the papers told the story of a muggleborn owned business that was burned out in Hogsmead. No one stepped forward to claim responsibility for the fire but given that they had to overcome normal anti fire and security wards it had to be a magical attack. This was overshadowed when Sirius brought news. He had been tasked by his grandfather to settle the estate of the Lestranges. At first he thought he was given this task in rebuke for killing them, but then he realized that if his grandfather hadn't claimed head of family privilege the wealth would have gone to his cousin Narcissa and her Death Eater husband. Sorry imperioused husband. It turned out that the Lestrange vault was heavily booby-trapped such that he had to contract a Gringott's curse-breaker to remove the gold. The curse breaker came across something normally only seen in tombs in ancient Egypt.

A horcrux, made using what appeared to be a replica of a cup purported to belong to Helga Hufflepuff. They couldn't exactly ask the Lestranges but the curse-breaker questioned Sirius as the one who dispatched the last of the Lestrange line. Their deaths didn't show the expected escaping wraith that apparently accompanies a horcrux. Sirius suspected it was actually Voldemort not his underlings who had attempted to defeat death. Fortunately Gringotts, having several hundred years of experience plundering tombs and dealing with cursed objects, was able to dispose of the object. They were also able to use a spell based on arithmatic equations of an ancient Roman wizard to determine that whoever made this horcrux had made more than one, something which the goblins said caused insanity and instability in the creator's magic. This fact made Sirius question whether it was Bella or Voldemort, given his cousin's lunacy. Arcturus was unhappy because the clearing of cursed items cut into the balance of the Lestrange fortune by a not insignificant amount.

James and Sirius discussed the matter back and forth and decided that even if neither Sirius nor Harry, if they had any say in the matter, would follow Albus, they needed to inform him of the situation. His response made James wish he was corporeal enough to strangle the maddening old git with his own beard. A single piece of parchment delivered by phoenix with the word "Interesting" on it.

Madame Longbottom and Adrian Greengrass were significantly more vocal in their dismay over this. The Greengrass family had remained neutral in the last war because they thought that killing off pureblood families was hardly an effective way to go about achieving pureblood supremacy. Madame Longbottom wanted to raise an army to be ready. Arcturus told Sirius that he would leave whatever battle came to Sirius, but please have an heir of his own before he got too far along the march to war.

Arcturus bestowed the property and gold from the Lestranges on Sirius to manage on his own. Sirius learned a lot about curse breaking clearing the properties of the Lestrange family of dark magic and warding them to his satisfaction. After the goblins told him it would take almost a quarter of the gold in the Lestrange vaults for the goblins to do it, he decided that starting his own warding/curse-breaking company was the route to go to restore the properties. To get the business up and running and move away from the more illegal aspects of trade that the Lestrange family had been involved with, he started hiring qualified muggleborn and half-bloods who were having trouble finding jobs as the pureblood movement re-asserted itself. The fact that, in addition to warding and overcoming dark magic, the ability to defend themselves was an important qualification for his employees was not ignored. By letting the goblins know that he would not focus on any jobs big enough to compete with them directly, he was able to establish a profitable business.

Sirius still spent a lot of time at Potter farm, but he moved to Douglas House so he could be the more public face of the Black family. In the summer of 1984, he had the residents of Four Privet Drive over several weekends when he wasn't hosting gatherings to move forward the agenda of House Black. He even arranged play dates where Harry and Dudley got to meet the children of his allies, Longbottom and Greengrass. Neville was a shy boy but the little blond girl Daphne was incredibly bubbly and vivacious. James could see that Petunia was of two minds, she seemed to be glad that her boys could interact with other children their age without being afraid that Harry's accidental magic was going to cause a scene, but she also seemed a little apprehensive about getting sucked further and further into the magical world.

James felt that Petunia was comfortable enough with magic that on All Hallow's Eve when the veil between the worlds was thinnest, he attempted to appear to Petunia. He knew it was successful because she gasped and nearly dropped the cup of tea she had been preparing before bed.

"Petunia, I just wanted to say thank you for treating my son like your own." James said standing before her in the kitchen.

"Sirius said you weren't at rest." Petunia said taking a shaky sip of her tea.

"I don't know if I'll ever rest, but seeing Harry happy and whole brings me a sense of peace." The spirit said concentrating on remaining visible.

"I've come to care for him." Petunia said her eyes brimming with tears. "I don't want to lose Dudley or him to your world, like I did Lily."

"I promise you I won't let that happen as long as I'm in this world." James said.

"Thank you," Petunia said overcome with emotion.

"Be at peace Petunia." James said and stopped concentrating on being visible.

After Halloween, James found it took more concentration to be outside of Harry. He found himself piggybacking on Harry's senses more and more.

James continued to interact with Harry's magic, he was fairly sure that his guiding of Harry's magic was the reason he was showing so much accidental magic, although given his level of control it was verging on pure controlled wandless magic. He wasn't sure if the metamorph talent was due to his interference or not.

By Christmas it was apparent that Harry's ability to change his features was only getting more frequent, James watched Sirius discuss it with Petunia.

"There are spells that can hinder him from changing. They are safe to use for a few hours, but not to be used every day or long enough for him to go to mundane school. That will have to wait until he can consciously control it and knows that he can't just change his eyes purple in front of people he doesn't know. It is useful if you want to take the boys to the beach for the day or to the zoo." Sirius explained.

"Are they safe enough that he could take part in youth sports, say for two to three hours a few days during the week for practice and five hours on the weekend for games?" Petunia asked. "If they can't go to regular school, I'd at least like them to have some mundane interactions with kids their own age."

"We should be able to make that work."

"I think your idea of having them tutored would make sense. Let me approach Jane."

"Before you do, would you object to my offering to include Neville and Daphne in the tutoring?" Sirius asked. "Purebloods normally teach their children individually but with some of the additional lessons I'm thinking Harry will need, it might be easier. I'm sure that we will be able to compensate Ms. Dorrett appropriately for the additional students."

"Why don't we talk to her together after you've spoken to Adrian and Augusta?" Petunia said

The conversation with Adrian and with Augusta went positively as both saw the advantages of being associated with the boy-who-lived. Once they detailed the proposed income structure and that they would use Gringotts influence to get her a job in the mundane world once her services were no longer needed in the family, Jane was quite happy to take on teaching four young children even though she had yet to pass all her requirements for credentialing.

As spring turned to summer, a secure floo was installed linking Four Privet to Douglas House. All four children were enrolled in a youth football league. Each day before practice Mrs. Greengrass would accompany Neville and Daphne to Privet drive and apply the morph hindering charm to Harry before walking with either June or Petunia to practice in the local park most often times with Remus Lupin accompanying them to act as security. As they were able to, all the parents came to the games.

Once the fall arrived, Jane flooed to Douglas House with the boys to begin teaching her four pupils. When she was in school they focused on French, Latin, and gymnastics with Remus, herbalogy taught by Pauline Greengrass, and dance and equitation taught by a friend of Pauline's, Sophia Davis. Before the middle of October Sophia's niece Tracy joined them. Sirius suggested the dance lessons and gymnastics because he knew his cousin's daughter had balance issues as a metamorph and, once they were older, Neville and Harry at least would benefit from it for more martial studies. The Davis family was pureblood with the exception of Tracy whose father Tobias married a muggleborn Ravenclaw.

Surprisingly through all of this, there was little attention paid to the real boy-who-lived. Some enterprising author had started writing a series of adventure novels for young magicals telling about Harry's exploits. Other than demanding that they be placed in the fiction section in bookstores and that the Potter family be paid a reasonable percentage of profits for the use of Harry's assumed likeness, a messy black haired boy with glasses and a livid lightning bolt scar on his forehead, Sirius did nothing to prevent them from being published and didn't bother to correct the image since Harry didn't wear glasses and had barely any scar on his face. He did however jokingly threaten James to get each of the children a set of them and have Jane use them as a reading primer.

Christmas 1985 did bring a surprise, when Sirius announced his engagement to Sophia. James was rather surprised as his friend hadn't discussed it with him. Petunia looked a little disappointed in an unguarded moment. James made a mental note to mention this to Sirius, He felt bad for her. It had definitely been long enough since Vernon passed that it would be natural for Petunia, still a young woman in her twenties, to seek a new partner, but there were too many things in her life that could not be discussed with a potential partner unless they were magical.

Sirius had a possible solution when James mentioned this and approached Petunia.

"Petunia, with the boys now in school, I'm wondering if you might be able to help me out. One of the businesses I have is on the mundane side of things. It is an accounting office that handles real estate and investments. The man who runs it is a squib but he needs some additional help from someone who knows about both worlds. Would you be interested in talking to him" Sirius asked.

"I'd be willing to, I still want to be here for the boys, and I enjoy going to their football practices with Pauline and being here when they finish their lessons most days. But yes, I will talk to him." She said smiling.

I'll have him call, his name is Alfred Prewett, managing director of Dawson's.

Although Alfred Prewett's office handled both magical and mundane real estate transactions, the man himself did not have an incredibly high opinion of wizards in general. He thought Sirius was a respectable human being but more of an exception than the rule. He came to the house for tea one afternoon to talk about what he was looking for.

"Mostly they come to us because wizards are complete rubbish at dealing with the muggle world." He said a few minutes into their first meeting when describing the business.

"I have two muggleborn witches and one half-blood wizard who work for me, the other dozen employees are all non-magical," he continued. "What I need is someone who can deal with accounting on transactions where someone from the magical world is purchasing a property that isn't already wizard owned. Gringotts handles converting the galleons into Sterling in a way that doesn't make the boys and girls at Inland Revenue go nuts."

"It sounds interesting. Has Sirius told you that I have two young children to care for?" Petunia asked.

"Yes, he mentioned that you might be able to work when they are in school and already work for a Doctor's office two days a week. " Alfred answered.

"Well I think I'd like to give it a go." Petunia said

"That sounds good Mrs. Dursley." He responded. "Dursley, that's not a name I'm familiar with in the wizarding world."

"You probably know my nephew's name. Harry Potter." Petunia said.

"Ah that would explain why Mr. Black mentioned the confidentiality clause in my contract." Alfred said looking thoughtful.

Petunia enjoyed working for Mr. Prewett. James noted that it was nice for her to be around someone who wasn't magical but that she could discuss the magical world.

Petunia invited one of her female coworkers over for tea. Sarah Mills was a muggleborn witch who attended St. George's in London. Petunia learned that although she was a qualified witch, the only regular contact she had with the magical world were the clients at Dawson's. She was a year older than Petunia and was still single, owing to the fact that there was a fairly limited dating pool of men who knew about magic and wouldn't expect her to give up her career the minute she got married. For the most part James ignored the gossip of the two young women but he was glad that Petunia had another contact with the magical world.

Petunia and Alfred started dating in late May. James learned from conversations they had that Alfred was the cousin of Fabian and Gideon whom he had known in the Order of the Phoenix. Alfred really didn't like his surviving cousin Molly and thought that she and his surviving aunt Muriel were, for all their pro muggleborn talk, complete pureblood bigots.

His description of his cousin's husband Arthur, who James remembered vaguely, was hilarious. Because Alfred lived in the muggle world, his cousin's husband treated him like he was a particularly bright member of some aboriginal tribe. Arthur apparently worked in the misuse of muggle devices department and was considered something of an expert on muggles in the ministry. Alfred shared a story that he had heard at the last family gathering he attended of Arthur getting arrested by the "pleas men" for accosting a woman on the street that he saw listening to a Walkman. He apparently assumed it must be an enchanted device. The rest of the family seemed to feel that his needing rescue by the obliviators was proof of how wonderful he was and how dangerous the muggle world was. Alfred could hardly hold his tongue from shouting that it proved that his cousin was an imbecile who couldn't wipe his own butt without magic.

James had the opportunity to see this in action that summer at Sirius and Sophia's wedding. The ceremony was opulent, as would be expected of the heir of family like the Blacks. Remus stood up as Sirius' best man, and ministry officials, family, members of society, and executives of the businesses that Sirius owned and invested in made certain to attend. Also present were all of the employees of Sirius' warding business, acting as security.

As a managing director of one of Sirius's businesses, Alfred was in attendance and he brought Petunia as his date for the evening. They had decided that she would say she knew about the magical world due to a sister who attended St. George's, not wanting to draw attention to Harry or herself. Both Alfred and Petunia were dressed in wizard wear. Harry was being taken care of with his schoolmates on the premises at Douglas House allowing James to be in attendance. James watched as Alfred was approached by Arthur and Molly Weasley.

"Alfred, So good to see you," Arthur said smiling. "I'd forgotten that you were working for Black these days."

"Yes, a good man to work for." Alfred turned to his companion. "Petunia Dursley, may I introduce my cousins, Arthur and Molly Weasley? Molly is my second cousin on my Father's side."

"A pleasure to meet you both," Petunia said, inclining her head. Not offering her hand as she had been coached that it was impolite for a woman in wizarding society to offer her hand first.

"A pleasure to meet you," Molly responded. "Dursley, I don't recognize that name, are you one of us?"

"Us?" Petunia asked.

"A witch," Molly responded with a slightly uncomfortable look.

"No, my sister attended St. Georges but I'm as mundane as they come." Petunia said noticing Molly's look. "I work with Alfred at Dawson's. Because I have magical family I can work on both sides of the line."

"How wonderful," Arthur chirped, an intense grin coming over his face. "You must be so excited to see magical contracts."

"Well some of the transactions are very interesting and the goblins are shrewd businessmen, but there really isn't much difference between a magical and a mundane purchase." Petunia responded.

"Fascinating, I'd really love to hear how you can work with magical contracts without having magic of your own." Arthur said slightly louder, drawing the attention of some of the people around them.

"Thank you, but I really only do the book keeping." Petunia said with a bit of discomfort.

"If you will excuse us, I simply must introduce Petunia to the Hargroves." Alfred said and without waiting for an answer guided Petunia by the elbow away from the Weasleys.

"Arsehole, why doesn't he just take out his wand and create a sign over us that says non-magical," Alfred muttered under his breath. They approached another couple, waiting for a pause in their conversation to approach. "Petunia Dursley, may I introduce you to David and Jessica Hargrove? Petunia, I believe you've paid several of the invoices for David's work, he is one of the warders for Blackwards."

Petunia smiled, "It's a pleasure. I thought I recognized your name from work."

"The pleasure is mine ma'am. To put a face to the name of a person responsible for my team being promptly paid for our work is always a pleasure," the tall warder said with a smile. The two couples chatted about work and child rearing until dinner was served. Once the toasts were given, Alfred and Petunia took their leave.

Once he settled down into married life, Sirius spent more time with the boys. He joined his new wife in teaching the children. Dance lessons began to include etiquette lessons. James read in the Daily Prophet that there were negative editorials about the Black heir having muggles at his wedding. There was also a push to tighten the werewolf laws and James assumed it was prompted by Sirius very publicly having a werewolf stand as his best man. James remembered hearing his father posit that harsher werewolf legislation only led to more werewolf violence as the were's were left marginalized.


	6. Chapter 6

Standard Disclaimer, I don't own Harry Potter, I'm just playing in the puddles.

Not so standard disclaimer: Just because I happen to agree that Hermione should have had her sights aimed higher than Ron, doesn't make me JK Rowling.

FF5

Harry always knew he was different. He was a wizard, but so were most of his friends, really everyone except his cousin and the kids on the football team. He didn't live with his mom and dad but his friend Neville lived with his Grandmother, so that wasn't too odd. He was a metamorphmagus but so was his cousin Dora. What made him different was his dad. He didn't know anybody else whose contact each day with their father was spiritual. No really, his father was a spirit. For as long as he could remember his father, who was dead, had been his constant companion. He quizzed him on his French vocabulary and potion ingredient interactions. He was always that voice in his ear, encouraging him, willing to listen to his problems and helping him to be the best he could. He remembered a time when he could see his dad, before cousin Sirius was married. But the Halloween after the wedding things changed. Except for that one time at his Great Uncle's funeral, his dad was now only the voice who loved him and cared for him.

He had been very sad when he stopped being able to see his dad. Sirius had finally figured it out after two weeks passed without a letter from or conversation with James. Harry remembered Sirius coming to his house. When he talked to Harrison and figured out that James Hadn't spoken to Harrison since the wedding. He had hugged Harry.

"Harry, I'm sorry, so many other things have been going on, and I didn't notice that I hadn't heard from your father." Sirius said with the young boy in his arms. "He must have finished what he was meant to do and moved on." Sirius was crying realizing that his best friend was well and truly gone.

"Daddy says, 'tell the silly git that I'm still here to take care of you,'" Harry said pausing, "Er, me, he's here to take care of me" Harry said smiling. "He just can't make himself visible outside."

"That's a relief kiddo, I felt so bad that I hadn't noticed that I didn't hear from your dad and I thought that you were dealing with him being gone." Sirius said smiling as he let Harry go and then ruffled his Hair.

"It's okay, Daddy still talks to me." Harry said smiling.

Remus had seemed saddened more than Sirius because he had spent more time talking to James while interacting with Harry as tutor and bodyguard. Because of this Remus spent more time with young Harry.

~FF~

The only time since then that Harry's father had really made his presence known had been at his Great Uncle's funeral three years ago. It was a public event and was the first time that Harry was officially out in public in the wizard world. Per Arcturus' wishes, after a portion of his Blood had been layered on the Family ward stone, something that Harry found scary but hoped he never had to do, Lord Black's body had been cremated. There was a public ceremony at Douglas Castle, where a marker commemorating Lord Black was dedicated.

Even though he was no longer Sirius's heir with the birth of Sirius and Sophia's son Procyon, or second in line to inherit the title of Black, Harry was still in the line of succession to head the Black Family in addition to the Potter Family. So he had to take part in the ceremony.

It had been an incredibly long and boring day. Harry missed uncle Arcturus but he only saw him a few times a year so being told that Arcturus had gone on to the afterlife didn't make him too sad. He knew, because of his father's presence as a spirit, that there was an afterlife and he hoped Uncle Arcturus was happy. After the dedication had been made, they were recessing across the grounds of the Castle, Harry remembered thinking it was funny when Da' told him it was called recessing, he thought of all the people in their formal robes playing like he did when Ms. Jane sent them out for recess from lessons. He had been giggling about that when it happened. Just as they had gone through a stone archway, there was a rumbling sound as part of the wall caved in. Leaving Neville, his gran, and the Greengrass' trapped on the other side.

There was a crash from in front of the procession. The very somber men that Sirius had said were there to protect them moved in front of them. Suddenly there were explosions to their right. Uncle Remus had been walking behind him and had grabbed him to pull him out of the way. Remus had his wand in hand and tapped it against Harry's watch which was also an emergency portkey. Harry grimaced remembering when Sirius gave him the portkey – he'd travelled by portkey before and he really hated them. Nothing happened. The portkey didn't activate. Harry remembered being scared.

"Kill the werewolf and the boy." He heard someone shout.

"Damn it! We must have walked right into anti-transport wa-" Remus was cut off as a grey beam suddenly hit him from behind slamming him into the stone bench that he had sheltered behind. He collapsed, blood collecting in a cut on his head where he had hit the bench. Harry looked around. Sirius and Sophia were trading spell fire from just a few feet in front of him. Cousin Narcissa and Lucius were both unconscious on the other side of the path. Harry tried to make himself smaller crouching between Remus and the bench. Suddenly the silvery form of his father shimmered beside him.

"It'll be okay Harry," His father said. James stood up and looked around. He kneeled back down next to Harry. "Harry, there's a lot of bad people around I'm pretty sure help is on the way but we need Remus. Pick up his wand."

Harry did. When he did, his dad disappeared. He felt his presence and heard the familiar voice of his father. "Harry I need you to concentrate and let your magic flow." He felt his father guiding him to point his wand at Remus

"_Episky." _He heard his voice say and he watched the cut on Remus's forehead stop bleeding and close. "_Envenerate" _Remus jerked awake and looked at Harry.

Harry held Remus' wand out, which he grabbed, as Remus took in his surroundings, he placed hand on his Harry's shoulder. With a flick of his wand, he caused the stone bench to slide around in front of them so that they had a stone wall at their back and the bench in front of them. Remus then pointed his wand at the wall and muttered several words, at the time Harry didn't know what he was doing, but later he learned that he animated the ivy on the wall to attack anyone trying to come over the wall. He tapped Harry on the head with his wand. This was something they had practiced and Harry hated how it felt as the disillusionment charm flowed over him like warm raw egg.

Once his charge was protected, Remus started transfiguring rocks into dogs that he sent to bite their attackers. While they were distracted he started shooting spells at them. Harry thought that this went on for hours but it turned out that it was less than two minutes before Sirius and his men got the rest of their attackers. Because of the anti-transport wards that they had set to capture their prey, they weren't able to escape themselves and Harry learned later that none of their attackers survived. By the time the aurors showed up with a healer and the magical reversal squad to erase the evidence of a magical battle the young boy was back at Douglas House with Neville, Dudley, who hadn't been there, and Daphne.

That night, he overheard Augusta and Sirius talking. "I'm telling you Augusta, I know there is no evidence but two of my employees are dead, Sophia was hit with a bone breaker, Remus was hit by a blasting hex that was only stopped because he was wearing armor under his robes. Then you have Narcissa and Lucius who were stunned, the only non-lethal spells cast by our attackers, it doesn't make any sense unless they were behind the attack. On top of that, they didn't bring Draco with them. A dedication ceremony commemorating the head of an ancient and noble family with several Wizengamot members and department heads from the ministry not to mention my mother and they didn't bring Draco, 'he was under the weather,' until Procyon's birth they were trying to push for him to be named the next head of the Blacks. They had to be behind it and there isn't a damn thing I can do about it."

"Harry, I know between my stories and Remus's stories, there is a long tradition of snooping and eavesdropping that you are upholding, but leave this be." He heard James in his ear. Since his dad usually stayed quiet when he or he and Dudley were getting up to mischief, Harry figured it was important.

"Okay," Harry said as he retreated to his room.

"Dad could you have said something last week when I thought it would be a good idea to tie Daphne's hair ribbons to her chair?" the little boy asked with a cheeky grin.

"No. One, it was funny" he could almost hear the ghost's smirk, "and two, you need to live your own life and that includes learning how to correctly plan a prank. Getting caught is a necessary part of that. I love you and I want you to grow up safe and strong. As you get older you need to make your own decisions, you can ask me about things but I'll only step in unasked when I think it's important."

That was the last time he'd seen his father but he was always there with him.

~FF~

This morning Aunt Petunia would take him to Diagon Alley to get his wand and some school supplies. Harry was concerned that Dudley wouldn't be joining him at Hogwarts because he hadn't done any accidental magic. Dudley said it was okay, he was already being scouted by the football coach from Smelting's Academy, where his father attended school. Harry would miss him though. Sirius and Petunia had explained to him that regular mail from Hogwarts took a long time so he was best off writing Dudley a letter and using owl post to get it to either his Aunt or Remus who could then forward it via regular post.

He was looking forward to getting his own wand this morning. Ever since his great uncle's funeral he had been learning wand magic. His father's wand worked very well for him. He wondered if he would just end up using his father's wand. Remus and Sirius had decided that if he could channel his magic in an emergency through a wand, he was probably ready to start practicing with a wand. He had already been doing meditation techniques to fully get control of his metamorph talent so with his dad's guidance, he was able to do simple spells. He had for the most part, mastered his control of his form including being able to mimic his cousin and friends' hair and eyes at will. Dad had told him that these meditation exercises were similar to the exercise they had used to become an animagus. Harry was actually bummed that because he was a metamorph, it was very unlikely that he could become an animagus like his father and Godfather.

Aunt Petunia had taken the day off of work and Uncle Alfred had wished them luck claiming he was needed at the office. He avoided the magical world as much as he could. Harry had overheard them talking the night before. Alfred argued that he was too distinctively a Prewett and didn't want to draw attention to them since it was known that a member of the Prewett family was married to the aunt of the boy-who-lived. Petunia had given in quickly. She knew that Alfred really was bitter about the magical world and already had to deal with it enough living with Harry and having several magicals through their house on a regular basis. His sentiments hadn't been helped when he had suddenly received more correspondence in the month after marrying Petunia from his family and former family acquaintances than he had in the preceding decade, all he was sure due to the fact that Petunia was Harry's guardian.

They had taken the train into London and switched over to the underground. Harry was currently sporting blond hair and blue eyes as he walked with his aunt down Charing Cross Rd. Remus walked next to them, dressed muggle and with a glamour to change his hair color to blond matching Harry's. They walked into the Leaky Cauldron. Remus changed their clothes into robes so that they wouldn't look out of place in Diagon Alley. Thus attired they drew no attention in the dark pub. Harry noticed that two of Sirius's curse breakers walked into the pub behind them and were animatedly discussing the Wasps last victory over the Canons. The attention of the pub was drawn to three muggles entering the door lead by a stern looking older witch; Dad let Harry know that it was Professor McGonagall and that she must be doing muggleborn introductions.

The three of them walked to the courtyard that led to Diagon Alley still with their curse breaker shadows. They paused to let Professor McGonagall catch up with them. When she looked at Remus there was clear recognition she looked searchingly at Harry and started to say something with a shake of his head Remus stopped her. She paused as she started to speak.

"Hogwarts dear?" she asked Harry.

"Yes Professor McGonagall, we're just here to get Hadrian his wand and some of his supplies. He's done very well in muggle school, so we are getting him his things a couple months early so he can study ahead a bit." Remus said taking over answering for Harry. Turning to the three muggles, "Forgive me, where are my manners? This is Petunia and I'm Remus Lupin." Remus said extending his hand. Harry admired the fact that he had been completely misleading to anyone in the magical community as to Harry's identity without saying a single thing that wasn't true other than varying his name, and at that had used the name on Harry's muggle documents. Uncle Remus played the best tricks.

The muggle man took the offered hand, "Prospero Granger. This is my wife, Jane, and our daughter, Hermione."

"Hi, I'm Hadrian," Harry said offering his hand to the young girl. "I guess we're going to be in school together."

"It's nice to meet you Hadrian," Hermione said taking his hand. "I'm the first witch in my family. Isn't it a bit unfair that you get your things early?"

Harry was taken aback a little bit. As a first conversation it went totally against his lessons from Sirius but he was able to recover smoothly, maintaining the story that Remus had started. "Well, My Mom and Dad attended Hogwarts so I've known about it for a long time and I was told that if I got all A's last spring and did really well this summer, I could get my books this fall." Deciding to use the debate skills that Remus had been trying to teach him, Harry stated, "But that's only because my birthday isn't until July so if we waited until my birthday, I'd only have my books for a month before school. I presume you are here to buy your books and wand, so really I'm not getting any more advantage today than you have because you're older than me. Wouldn't waiting until my birthday be unfair?"

The little brown haired girl started to say something - then stopped herself - started again – stopped, then kind of scrunched up her shoulders and harrumphed causing her father and mother to chuckle which earned a glare from Hermione.

"Hadrian, It's a pleasure to meet you." Jane said reaching out to offer him her hand. "It's good to know that Hermione will know at least one person before going to school next year." With a twinkle in her eye she said, "And even better that it is someone who can use logic as well as she can."

"Thank you ma'am," Harry said.

"Ravenclaw?" Professor McGonagall asked with a wistful note in her voice.

"Not sure," Remus responded. "Cunning as a Slytherin, loyal as a 'Puff, heart of a Lion, dives on new subjects, like a Raven, We're not sure where he'll end up, but he'll do well in any house."

"Beg Pardon?" Mr. Granger asked.

As they walked down the alley to the bank, Minerva explained.

"I mentioned the four houses when we talked about the school. Students are sorted based on their strongest traits: cunning and ambition are chosen for Slytherin, also almost exclusively students who've grown up in wizarding society, loyal and tenaciously hard working make up the Hufflepuffs, those with an overwhelming drive for knowledge are destined for Ravenclaw, the students who have the most bravery are sorted into my house Gryffindor."

"But how can you determine that?" Hermione asked

"That is a secret but the system has seldom been wrong in almost one thousand years."

The young witch was obviously not satisfied with the answer but they were walking up the steps to the bank and she was distracted by the spear wielding guards on either side of the door.

Harry and Petunia waited while Remus conducted some business. Petunia was chatting with Jane Granger while Professor McGonagall led Mr. Granger to the exchange counter with Hermione in tow as she was fascinated by the Goblins.

"Has Hermione started her growth spurt?" Petunia said speaking over Harry's head.

See that Harry was seemingly enraptured by the goblin guards Jane responded. "Yes, she's growing like a weed."

"I wouldn't recommend buying robes until spring or summer then. They have auto sizing charms, but no use having her show up to school already having used up half the sizing," Petunia said. "My boys go through clothes like you wouldn't believe so that's what we plan to do."

"Oh do you already have one at Hogwarts?" Jane asked.

"No, Harry, er, Hadrian's actually my nephew, my sister's son. My son Dudley is the same age and will be going to Smelting's like his father." Petunia answered.

Jane thought about this for a moment, "Oh, I'm sorry; I just assumed with the robes that your family was magical."

"Nope, I'm as muggle as can be." She said pronouncing muggle like it left a bad taste in her mouth. "My sister who has passed on was magical and my husband is from a magical family but isn't a wizard. The robes are because it keeps us from drawing attention in the magical world. Something I would actually recommend for you three if you plan to come to the Alley very often." She said indicating with a gesture the people looking disdainfully at Jane's husband and daughter.

"I think that will be our next stop," Jane said. "There's so much we don't know and Professor McGonagall seems to just want to talk about how wonderful things are with magic and what the school had to offer. Would you be willing to answer my questions?"

"I'd be happy to; I remember when Professor McGonagall came with my sister's letter. Mom and Dad didn't know what questions to ask either."

"Thank you," Mrs. Granger said placing a hand on Petunia's shoulder. They exchanged business cards and the promise to have lunch one day.

When they were ready to move on Remus saw that Petunia seemed to be getting on with Mrs. Granger. He turned to Professor McGonagall, "Minerva, if you would like, I would be happy to guide the Grangers around if they would be amenable."

Prospero looked at his wife who nodded, "That would be lovely. Ma'am, if it is okay, we would like to take Mr. Lupin up on their offer. May we write you if we have any questions between now and September first?"

"Certainly," Professor McGonagall said. "If we don't hear from you before then, I will check in with you on August first to make sure everything is fine then." She bade everyone goodbye. Minerva turned to go, Remus followed her and shared a brief exchange with her before she apparated away.

"Hermione dear, Mrs. Lupin says we should get robes first." Her statement was cut off by Petunia.

"Oh I'm sorry dear, I realize that we must have given that impression but my name is actually Prewett. Remus is just a friend of the family." Petunia explained.

"My apologies Mrs. Prewett," Jane said.

"There is no need to apologize, by all means, call me Petunia," Petunia said smiling. "It is not your fault Remus didn't use my full name."

"So, Mrs. Prewett was saying that since Hermione will probably be taller next fall it would be a good idea to hold off on student robes but she recommended we get a set of robes to wear when we are here in the magical community."

"Why Mommy? They're so out of date." Hermione asked.

"Hermione, honey, don't be rude. Do you remember when we visited Jerusalem? How you wore long skirts and there were places I had to wear a scarf over my hair?" Hermione nodded and her mother continued, "Think of it like that."

Remus led them to the shop on her list, Robes for All Occasions. They were greeted by an attendant, "Hogwarts dears?"

"Yes, but we just want to get some casual robes today." Jane said gesturing to her daughter and husband. Shortly they were all attired in robes that made them blend into the crowd. From there, they decided to get Hermione her trunk, Remus suggested one that could be shrunk and enlarged with the touch of a wand. The next stop was Ollivander's for wands, Hermione was quickly matched with a wand, giggling and bouncing when she produced a spray of sparks. When the sparks stopped her father swept her up into a hug and congratulated her.

When Ollivander turned to Harry, Remus offered to the Grangers, "Why don't I take you guys to get Hermione's telescope and potions supplies? Having magical family, Harry already has access to those items so he doesn't have to join us."

Getting their agreement and after paying for Hermione's wand, they left the store. As he left Remus said to Petunia, "We'll meet you at the coffeehouse four doors up when we're done."

Petunia nodded.

Turning to Harry, Ollivander said, "Mr. Potter, now your turn. Is this your normal height and arm length?"

Harry looked at Aunt Petunia who nodded. "Yes sir." Harry said.

"Remus told you Ollivander was a weird one." James's voice sounded in his ear. Ollivander cocked his head when James spoke but then seemed to dismiss it.

Ollivander proceeded to have his measuring tape move around Harry. A dozen wands later, some of them feeling like cold some giving him a prickly feeling in his hand, and Ollivander took a deep breath.

"Mr. Potter, it's been a few years since I've last fitted a metamorph, your cousin I believe. We're not getting a good connection; may I ask you to assume your base form?" Harry looked at Aunt Petunia for confirmation before letting his hair and eyes go back to their normal color.

"Once you are firmly connected to your wand, your exterior form will not matter," Ollivander exlpained.

A half dozen wands later Mr. Ollivander handed him one that felt warm and comfortable in his hand, like it belonged there. He had thought his father's wand felt good, a solid connection, but this felt better like it was made for him alone.

"Eleven, inches holly and phoenix feather core," Mr. Ollivander said. Ollivander's eyes gleamed as Harry took hold of the wand.

Harry gave the wand a wave, gold and red sparks as well as blue and bronze sparks cascaded out of the wand.

"Well I think we've found your wand and a more powerful reaction I haven't seen in years." Ollivander looked him in the eye. "The phoenix that gave the feather in the core of your wand has only given one other feather. I sold that wand fifty years ago; its master went on to do incredible things. Terrible certainly, but incredible feats of magic none the less."

"Who was it?" Harry asked.

"The young man went on to become Voldemort, that wand, your wand's brother wand as we say, is the one that left its mark on you." Mr. Ollivander said looking at Harry's very faded scar.

Harry instinctively shifted his appearance covering the scar. Petunia made a move to step forward.

"I'm sorry my boy," the old wizard said. "You mustn't listen too closely to the ramblings of an old man." He said patting Harry on the cheek in the way of the elderly. Ollivander turned and spent a few moments tidying up his stock giving Harry a moment to compose himself.

"Mr. Potter, the wand chooses the wizard, but the wizard chooses how he will use the wand. I see greatness in you that is for certain."

More than slightly creeped out, they finished up their purchase, Harry opting for a basic wand holster to go with his wand. He had an auror model holster at home but the basic would look less out of place at Hogwarts. Harry proudly strapped his wand on and He and Petunia left the shop. They headed up the street to the coffeehouse, Harry notice their two curse breaker companions were shadowing them still. Remus had the Grangers at a table in front corner where they had some privacy for conversation but could look out on the street and watch the passersby. Harry held his aunt's chair as he had been taught and then took the last chair. In the center of the table under a warming charm were the usual rich dark bitter chocolate that Harry had picked up a taste for from Remus for him and a cup of Petunia's preferred tea. Once they were seated Remus went back to explaining the use of a gold cauldron and further that the store had it in their window because it was flashy but that really all the potions that needed it were well on the way to mastery level work and nothing that Hermione would encounter unless she became a healer or a potions mistress.

When he had finished answering Hermione's questions on the subject at least for the moment, Prospero interjected into the conversation, "Mr. Lupin, is there a reason why there are two men following Hadrian and Petunia?"

Remus looked around and discretely cast a privacy bubble around the table.

"Do you mean the two gents across the street having a cigarette?"

"Yes," Mr. Granger answered without looking in that direction.

"Not to worry, when we leave here, it will actually be the two blond witches in second booth from the door that will follow us." Remus went on, "How did you spot them? They haven't made any gaffes that I've noticed."

"Training, I was stationed in a not so friendly part of Ireland for a while when I was with the Paras. This world is sufficiently different from my normal life that it made the old instincts come back." Prospero answered.

"Harry's godfather is a very wealthy powerful man. He usually has some security when he is out and about in the magical world. In the mundane world it is much less necessary." Remus answered.

"Godfather, you mean like that American movie, Don Corleone and all that?" Mrs. Granger asked.

"No, more like, I swear that if something happens to you, I will look after your child godfather." Remus answered. "In the magical world it is still a common practice and because of magical oaths it has binding effects."

"Oh," Mrs. Granger said.

"Also, we might as well tell you since Hermione will be going to school with him, Hadrian or Harry as he more commonly goes by is actually famous for something that happened when he was a baby." Remus explained.

"Remus, let me, I've got to get used to talking about this before I go to Hogwarts." Harry said placing a hand on Remus's arm. He looked at the Grangers. "It's been very nice to spend the morning with you, I'm Harry Potter. There was a terrorist group that was trying to take over the government. The why is unimportant, they were criminals hurting people. My parents were part of the group fighting them. They had drawn enough attention that the leader of the terrorists came after our family. When he attacked, both my parents were killed. He apparently tried to kill me. He cast a spell that should have killed me, instead it back fired. Some people claim it is because I have some special ability. I think it's because of something my parents did." Harry paused. He knew from conversations with his father that it was definitely something they did. "Whatever. It backfired disintegrating his body and leaving me with a scar," Harry touched his forehead, "You can't see it right now because I'm magically hiding it, but the public calls me the boy-who-lived, a name I really despise because it's saying the-boy-whose-parents-died." Petunia placed a hand on his back.

"I'm sorry Harry." Mr. Granger offered.

"Thank you." Harry replied. "So anyway, I'm famous for something I don't remember and wish never happened. My godfather is a very wealthy man with a seat in our government and I like riding hunters, but not as much as I like riding a broom. I play football. my aunt would probably prefer if I could cast a silencing charm on my room before I practice violin – I'm just learning – and am signed up to compete in my first junior savate tournament in January. What do you do for fun Hermione?" He said inexpertly trying to change the subject

"You really ride a broom?" Hermione said looking at him with disbelief. "Like witches in stories?"

"Yes, broom racing and quidditch are two of the most popular sports in European magical society." Harry said smiling. "Maybe if you ask your parents, we can go by Quality Quidditch Supplies this morning."

Hermione looked apprehensive, "I don't know if I want to, I don't really think I'd be very good at it."

"Oh okay," Harry said.

"So what do I do for fun? I swim, play tennis, I've been to cotillion, I've had a few lessons riding but I'm not really comfortable. Mostly I like reading. I'm a bit of a bookworm." Hermione said with a weak smile.

"That's fine, just means you'll do really well when we get to school." Harry said trying to be encouraging. Hermione's smile got more confident.

"Why don't we head on to the bookstore?" Mrs. Granger suggested wanting to lighten things up. Hermione's eyes lit up and she quickly finished her chocolate.

The bookstore with Hermione was an adventure, Harry already had a satchel with an expansion charm so he didn't need one although watching Hermione look at all the offerings was quite fun. Harry filled his list of books quite quickly. Hermione was a dervish that he followed along behind. Remus recommended some basic books to fill out her list. He grumbled over the fact that Snape didn't have any reference books on his potions list. An etiquette book rounded out Remus's recommendations.

When Hermione got to the Harry Potter section, she looked at Harry standing next to her.

"Don't bother buying any of these, they are complete fantasy. If you want to read any of them, I can loan them to you," Harry said with a smile. Hermione gave him an odd look. "My Godfather thinks it's absolutely hilarious to give them to me for my birthday."

Hermione looked scandalized. "The pictures look nothing like you," Hermione whispered stridently.

"Well I don't go out in public in the magical world very often, and when I do, I usually look a little different like today. I like mundane London much better in a lot of ways. Remus and I go for curry sometimes and we can talk about whatever we want without him having to cast a privacy spell," Harry said. Looking back at the books, "I'm told that one of the people who rescued me when my parents were killed told a few people that I look exactly like my dad with my mom's eyes, so those features plus the scar is what the artists drew. I'm actually glad it doesn't look a lot like me, makes it easier for me to go about my life."

"Come on kids, let's get checked out," Jane Granger called them over to the counter.

After the bookstore the only item on the list was the optional pet. The Grangers had been hesitant to get a pet but Petunia suggested an owl was actually a really good idea and not for Hermione but for themselves. She explained that although the school had owls that Hermione could send letters home with, if they wanted to send their daughter a letter they either needed an owl or to be okay for the week and a half that Hogwarts took to process muggle mail. Remus added that post owls were generally incredibly fastidious creatures that were house trained and, although they liked treats, generally could and would hunt for themselves.

They settled on a little owl that Prospero immediately dubbed Nyct. After buying the necessary supplies for the owl, the group headed back to the Leaky Cauldron. In the courtyard behind the Cauldron, the Grangers took their over robes off and placed them in Hermione's trunk while Remus handled the transformation of his groups outfits.

Before they parted Hermione gave Harry a crushing hug "Thanks I had fun today." Then blushing she left with her parents.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer, My wife owns my Heart, The bank owns my house, my boss owns my ass five days a week, and I do not own Harry Potter, if I did Dobby would have spent the entire seventh book riding Draco around like a pony.

FF7

Two weeks after their trip to Diagon Alley, Harry was practicing his violin on a Saturday afternoon when he heard the doorbell ring. A shouted "I've got it" echoed up the stairs from his cousin. Harry paused in his playing.

"Nope, I'm his cousin Dudley," He heard his cousin say to the guests. Presumably whoever it was they were here to see him. Harry started to put away his violin even before he heard Dudley say, "Please come in, I'll get him." If it were just the two of them in the house or even if it were just June or Remus around Dudley would have just yelled for Harry, but with guests in the house his mum would not be pleased if he yelled. He walked up the stairs to knock on Harry's door. Before he could finish knocking, Harry opened the door. "Harry, you've got guests, Mrs. Granger and her daughter Hermione. I didn't know you were having anybody over."

"Neither did I. I told you about Hermione, the girl I met in Diagon Alley, but I didn't know they were coming over today," Harry said. "Your Mom must have invited them over."

"She's cute, in a curly haired shy sort of way," He said giving Harry a smirk that tried and almost copied Sirius' smile.

"Shove off, her dad is about the scariest combination I can think of, a dentist and an ex Para," Harry said smiling, which just made his cousin smirk at him more. Harry moved past his cousin giving him a friendly shoulder check as he passed him to walk down the stairs.

Entering the Lounge he saw Mrs. Granger and Hermione. Hermione was dressed for riding in long boots and pants, her bangs still curly but the rest of her hair pulled back in a French braid that threatened to get out of control. "Good afternoon, Mrs. Granger, Hermione. Harry Potter, without a disguise, at your service," He said, inclining his head to each of them since they were already seated. "I apologize, I didn't realize the time, I was just practicing my violin and the hour must have gotten away from me. May I offer you tea?"

"No apology needed Harry. Your aunt and I had lunch the other day. She suggested that I bring Hermione over so that you could go riding together. We had agreed upon two and I realize we're actually a bit early. I wasn't sure how traffic would be." Mrs. Granger politely stated. "Don't bother with tea, I'm fairly certain we will be leaving when you Aunt arrives?"

Dudley stuck his head in, "Harry, if you're going riding you should change."

"You won't be joining?" Mrs. Granger asked. "Your mother said you are quite good on horseback."

Dudley blushed a little, "I'm okay I guess. Unfortunately I can't today, I've got football practice in another hour."

Harry looked to his cousin, "Thank you Dudley." Turning to his guests he asked, "If you will excuse me for a moment?" Jane Granger waved him off. He went back upstairs and quickly changed into riding pants and boots. Grabbing his jacket and helmet he went back downstairs. As he was coming back downstairs, he heard his aunt and uncle come in the front door. He overheard his aunt apologizing for being late and introducing his uncle. After a round of introductions, they showed the Granger women floo travel and explained firecalling. Harry had to come back and ferry each of them through but shortly they were at Douglas House. When he had guided his aunt through she apologized to him, "I'm sorry Harry, I asked Sophia if we could come over but I completely forgot to mention it to you, this is okay yes?" she asked looking him in the eye.

"Of course Aunt Petunia, they seem like nice enough people and I'm going to be spending the next seven years with her so getting to know her seems like a good idea," Harry answered giving his aunt a quick hug. "Besides, I've heard that muggleborn children don't have the easiest time making friends because of the weird things that happen around us magicals." Once the three ladies were through and after introductions to Sophia, Harry took Hermione's hand and led her down to the stables.

When they came in view of the stables, Harry could see that Tracey was there working on her dressage on her favorite gelding Pharaoh. Sirius had marked off a dressage arena sized space in the field behind the barn instead of building an arena because there was only one year until Tracy went to Hogwarts and if she didn't stick with dressage, it would be wasted expense and space. When they reached the barn, Harry called out, "Pferdie, can your saddle Mika for me and Sage for my guest?"

The house elf who kept the stable and paddock stuck his head out of the tack shed, "Yes young Harry, I will have them out in a few minutes."

"Harry, what was that?" Hermione asked trying to maintain a calm demeanor.

"Pferdie?" Harry asked looking at his new friend.

"I guess?" she answered.

"Pferdie's a house elf," James fed him a description that had apparently appeased his mother. "House elves are a magical race that creates a symbiotic bond with a magical family or place. They are the source of the legends of brownies and thrive and get energy when they are helping their family. An elf that does not have this positive connection generally only lives about forty years and has a hard time reproducing due to a limited amount of magic. A bonded elf can live to well over a hundred and has significantly more magic. One of the Potter elves, Harrison accompanied my great great uncle to the Crimea and still looks young."

"But bonded, like slaves or serfs?"

"Like a feudal oath yes, not slavery. In a traditional feudal society, the serfs owed fealty to the lord just as the lord owed allegiance to the king, but the lord had far more responsibilities to the serfs and for them. These types of bonds were originally mutually beneficial. The elves provide work for the magical family but, as I said, they live longer, have stronger magic, and can much more easily have a family. Just a point, if you suggested to most house elves that they should be quote "free", they would want to know why you wanted to take away their magic and shorten their lives. Not to mention limit their ability to have children" Harry wound down.

"Oh, I'll have to think about that." Hermione said pensively.

At this point Tracy rode up to where they were standing. "Good afternoon Harry. Who's your friend?"

"Hermione Granger, may I introduce Tracey Davis?" Harry said gesturing between them. "Hermione will be joining us at Hogwarts next fall. Her mom is having tea with my aunt and yours."

Tracey gracefully slid off of Pharaoh's back and offered her hand to Hermione. "It is a pleasure to meet you Hermione. That's a name from Shakespeare, right?"

"Yeah, tradition in my dad's family. My grand mum is Viola." Hermione said pleased to meet the blond girl.

"Tracey, we were going to ride the loop, would you care to join us?" Harry asked. Having decided that the four mile wooded path would be a nice ride to see how Hermione sat a horse.

"I'd be happy to." Tracey said smiling.

Pferdie led their horses out, looked at Hermione and made a couple of adjustments to the tack. Once they were mounted Harry let Tracey lead them off, Harry directed Hermione to follow. They were all riding close enough together to talk. Harry watched how Hermione rode and made a couple of small suggestions. She at first bristled at his suggestions until she realized that what he was suggesting made for a more comfortable ride. Harry thought that she could probably also sit a broom as well. They talked about school. Harry decided to explain about being a metamorph and how that meant even though his aunt had wanted him to, he could not attend mundane school.

"Even without the whole metamorph thing, that's why most of us magicals homeschool or have tutors. School is stressful, too many things happen around us that can't be explained." Tracey added to their conversation. "So Hermione, have you ever had accidental magic happen at school?"

"Yes, my very first year. I wanted to wear my yellow jumper for picture day but it was dirty so mom sent me to school in a blue one. By the time I made off from the car to the classroom, it had changed yellow." Hermione said with a wistful smile. "I know what you mean about unexplained stuff though, I'm kind of an outsider at my school. How about you Tracey?"

"Well, I'm tutored with Harry and a couple of others all who either know about magic like Dudley, Harry's cousin, or are magical. But two years ago, I knocked over and broke a glass and somehow I managed a _reparo_ and drying charm because I fixed the glass and dried off the work that the water spilled on. Anything bigger than a color changing charm?" Tracey asked.

"Well I did light a bully's book bag on fire. Fortunately, she was the older sister of a girl in my class and had a pack of cigarettes and lighter on her, so they just assumed she had somehow lit it on fire herself," Hermione said showing some embarrassment, but looking like she was glad to be finally around people she could talk about these things with.

"Ah, another pyro. Harry watch out, someone might be more powerful than you." Tracey led them into a clearing where they dismounted by a stream.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, turning to Harry, "Have you lit things on fire before with accidental magic?"

"With Harry, it's not exactly accidental. Saviour of the wizarding world and all that." Tracey said.

"Hush Tracey," Harry said giving Tracey an annoyed look.

"Come on Harry, you know if her mom and your aunt are talking, she's probably going to be around us between now and September." Tracey said goading her friend.

"Fine, you're probably right." Turning towards Hermione, he looked down at the ground. Finding what he wanted, he bent to pick up a couple of twigs which he twisted and bent until he could expose some rough edges. "It's part of being a Metamorph. If I don't have conscious control of my magic, my face and hair cycle with my moods like this." Harry consciously rolled his hair through blond, brown, and pink before going back to his normal black. "It's kind of similar to a normal person not being able to control a blush. As much as Tracey has put me on the spot just now, my hair would probably be flowing through different colors. Because of that, I have had to learn very good control of my magic. I'm not to the point where I can just conjure fire, but…" He held out his palm with the shredded twig on it. Looking at it for a moment his eyes narrowed and the twig started to smoke and burst into flames. Before he could get burned, he dumped the lit twig in the stream. He dunked his hand for good measure. "The down side is I haven't figured out how to do it without being in contact with what I'm lighting." Okay that part was an exaggeration. His father had helped him figure out how to do it, he just couldn't do it reliably yet. "I've also got a pretty good wandless summoner which is useful when you leave your socks across the room." He said holding up his hand and causing a stick the size of a wand to shoot into his hand. "But these like so many other things," he said glaring at Tracey, "we would really prefer to keep secret."

"Magic, has so many secrets." Hermione said still looking with awe at Harry.

"It does, but some of them are such wonderful secrets." Tracey said smiling brightly.

They chatted for a few minutes more and then mounted up to head back to the barn. They dismounted and let the horses find their normal stalls. Pferdie shooed them out of his barn.

"Normally we have to deal with tack and help Pferdie groom the horses, but since you are here as a guest he'll take care of that." Tracey said leading her off chatting about hairstyles that work under the riding helmet. Harry followed behind thinking that both girls were pretty in their riding outfits. As they made their way up to the house, Hermione's eyes went wide when they were greeted by another house elf with a bootjack and slippers.

"Thank you Jess," Harry said taking the slippers after removing his boots.

"Not a problem young Potter," the house elf said. "Miss Davis, your aunt would like you to join them in the sunroom."

"Thank you Jess," Tracey said. Once they had all removed boots, they headed to the sunroom as requested. Tracey's aunt Sophia was there along with Aunt Petunia and Mrs. Granger. They women had stopped talking when the three youngsters came in.

"Did you enjoy your ride?" Jane Granger asked.

"Yes, Harry and Tracey were nice enough to keep to a pace I was comfortable with," Hermione answered. She turned to Mrs. Black and Mrs. Prewett, "It is so beautiful here, thank you for allowing me to visit." Harry suspected she was not sure which of them she owed thanks to.

"Certainly, Petunia asked us and we were more than happy to extend the invitation." Sophia Black answered.

"Hermione dear, how would you like to get some extra help with magic before you leave for Hogwarts?" her mother asked.

Harry looked at Hermione. She practically vibrated with energy as she said yes. It looked like her mum might well have asked if it would be okay to move Christmas a little sooner.

"Good, we want you to get the best out of your education. It would seem that although the school has a grand tradition, currently a couple of the subjects, namely history and potions, suffer from a less than inspiring teaching staff."

Harry missed the next thing that was said due to his dad laughing in his ear. "You know that's a bit distracting," Harry said sub-vocally, something he and his dad had worked on so they could speak with others around.

"Well yes, but from the things cousin Dora has said about Snape, calling him less than inspiring is rather charitable." His father said back keeping his voice at a low enough level that Harry could mostly follow the rest of the conversation

—"Mrs. Prewett has also said that Harry will be doing correspondence work on his mundane schooling and can arrange for you to receive the same work if you would like to."

"I could still attend university like daddy wants me to?" Hermione asked, a brilliant smile on her face.

"It will be harder, but yes, it may be possible," Aunt Petunia offered.

"That would be so wonderful." The little brunette was once again bouncing.

They talked about schedules and settled on times and soon it was time to return home. After they saw their guests off with another rib cracking hug from Hermione, Harry went to put his boots, which Jess had thankfully cleaned, and other riding gear away.

His bedroom was the smallest bedroom, but with a bunk bed over a desk and a window seat that had shelves under it, they had made the most of the space. The closet had been significantly expanded, although charmed so none of his muggle friends on the football team would notice anything. To them it seemed like a normal closet with built in bin-like drawers for his folded clothes. It was in actuality an expanded space that gave him a walk in closet. He remembered when Jane had offered to switch rooms with him two years ago when he was getting bigger and starting to chafe at lack of space for his stuff. He had refused thinking that would have been rude as she was an adult, but how he had wanted the extra space. Remus thankfully had offered the solution. He had seen the bunk bed over a desk design in a catalog and they had quickly obtained it. Harry remembered watching Remus doing the runes to expand the closet. The following year, with Alfred's approval, expanding Aunt Petunia's closet had been Harry and Dudley's birthday gift to her. Not that they had done the magic, just asked Remus to and played fetch and carry for him while he was working. Not to leave any members of the household out, Dudley and Jane each also got expansions to their closets and Remus got a date with Jane in the bargain. They dated on and off but didn't seem to be permanent. With the elimination for the need of a dresser and making the footprint of the desk and bed the same, he had plenty of room to practice violin, do his Tai Chi forms, and even work the basics of Savate. Mirrors hung on the closet door allowed him to watch his form and made the room appear bigger. Although for Savate, he usually worked in the shed behind the garage where he had a heavy bag.

When they contacted Remus about adding Hermione to their tutoring classes, he had offered to give her some one on one in potions and etiquette lessons to get her up to speed with the rest of the group. She took to it like a fish to water.

~FF~

It was a cold afternoon in early November when she went riding with Harry again. This time Tracey wasn't with them. Hermione had been quiet and not her usual talkative self.

"You lied to me when you talked about getting books that first day we met," Hermione said once they were out on the path through the forest.

"I don't believe so. I know we were being careful about revealing my identity where someone could hear, but I don't think I lied to you." Harry answered hoping he hadn't hurt his new friend.

"You said you were getting your supplies so you could start studying. You made it sound like you hadn't studied magic. Then, I come to find out that you've been studying magic for years and have this huge advantage over me." She said in a rush, looking like she was close to tears.

"I'm sorry Hermione, I did make it sound that way." Dad had said when dealing with a girl or woman, don't just say sorry, be sorry for something specific. It might not be the right thing but it shows you are listening and care about what they think. "The only Hogwarts subject that I've had more than passing lessons in is the herbalogy that Remus is helping you with and how the plants relate as potions ingredients. Yes I've had Latin, but that's not actually a Hogwarts subject even if most incantations are in dialects of Latin." Harry was under strict orders from James and Remus to keep James' wand a secret.

"But what about all the other magic you've studied?" Hermione asked. "Tracey got you to show off that wandless magic the first day we went riding."

"What I've studied isn't stuff they teach at Hogwarts and is necessary because of my ability." Harry tried to explain.

Hermione huffed and didn't say anything.

"Okay, I'll admit, I was trying to impress you a little bit with the wandless summoner," Hermione's eyes changed a little bit when he said he was trying to impress her, "but if Remus and my Godfather have their way, we'll all at least be able to summon our wands before we leave for Hogwarts." Harry rode up knee to knee with Hermione and directed his horse to stop, bringing hers to a stop as well. "Hermione, have you ever worn clothes that were itchy, stiff, and maybe too tight?"

"Yeah." Hermione answered looking puzzled and still a little upset at him.

"Well, until a little over a year ago when I could prove to my aunt and my godfather that I could control my form even in stressful or uncomfortable situations and that included getting hit with a football, anytime we wanted to go out in public I needed to be under a form hindering spell which feels like wearing a starched scratchy wool shirt that you've outgrown over your entire skin. My first year in football, the coaches thought I was just no good because it was distracting and my balance was weird." Harry paused hoping she believed him. "So the meditation and Tai Chi I do every day, the control exercises I do daily. Yes they have given me better control of my magic than normal for our age, but without them because of what I was born with, my magic would make my life very difficult. I'm sorry if I made you feel bad, I didn't mean to."

"It's okay Harry, I guess I didn't understand. I just suddenly felt like I wasn't going to be good enough and I've always been the smart one in any group." She said with a shy smile.

"Oh, I think you'll still be the smart one, just because a violinist can play music doesn't mean they can write it." Harry said reaching out and placing a hand on her arm. Her smile brightened. "Are we good?"

"Yeah, we're good," she said.

"So really, other than the herbalogy and potions ingredient prep, which Remus is helping you catch up on, we haven't actually studied anything covered at Hogwarts." Harry said. "I can't wait to get started next month." The parents had collectively decided that since it would be too cold and wet to comfortably do much outside that they would start on a primer of the Hogwarts subjects in December.

"Harry, come on let's ride. We've been just sitting here. Mika and Sage are probably bored of us right now."

"Mika's pretty good about this," Harry said patting the mare on her neck. "But yeah, let's ride." With that he set off at a cantor leaving Hermione to catch up with him.

~FF~

Harry only saw Hermione once more in the month of November and things had been comfortable between the two of them. When the magical portion of the younger generation got together at the beginning of December, Harry could already see that Hermione was moving a little more fluidly which he assumed was due to her taking up Tai Chi. Harry had overheard Jane Granger on the phone with his mother, the day after they rode last, asking about recommendations for where Hermione could learn. He assumed that meant she was also probably practicing meditation techniques. Oh well, they already had one ultra-competitive girl in the group in the form of Daphne. It would be interesting to see how they interacted. Harry was bummed that Dudley wouldn't be getting a letter, Sirius had been able to get Professor McGonagall to confirm it before they started these classes. Dudley told him that he was okay with it and that he had talked to Sirius about it who had told him that the fact that he could ride a kid's training broom was probably because they were meant to be used by children with still developing magical cores. Dudley was taking typing and computer classes to get him better prepared for Smeltings.

In deference to Dudley taking afterschool classes and Hermione needing to go to her regular school classes they planned their magic lessons for weekday and Saturday afternoons. With five students and four magical teachers offering their specialties, their pupils progressed with ease. With the exception of potions and history where they basically gave them full tuition, they focused on things that were normally glossed over or not taught in normal classes. With the magical creativity of Remus and Sirius and Pauline's knowledge in Herbalogy, whose family's fortune was built on potions ingredients, they had a very well rounded group.

As Harry had suspected, Hermione and Daphne clashed for top spot in their academics to the point that their teachers had stopped issuing them grades on the few writing assignments they gave by mid-January and instead just provided written critique. Both girls pushed each other for who could get the spells they practiced right faster or who could brew the better potion. Since Harry was very good with his wand — and yes was getting extra wand training between Remus and his father — and Neville was great with potions due to his love of Herbalogy, neither girl was usually first at spells or had the best potion often, but it didn't stop them from continuously vying for first and pushing their classmates harder.

For history they had reading assignments and discussions, they studied the formation of the wizarding government in Britain and human political events since they knew Binns would go over the various goblin rebellions and treaties that followed. Since it affected them closely, they talked a lot about the twentieth century. When they got to talking about Dumbledore, Hermione couldn't understand why the others wouldn't think he was as great as he was.

"But I've read in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts about the defeat of Grindelwald and how he led a group that fought He-who-must-not-be-named. He's the greatest wizard of the twentieth century and we get to study at his school." Hermione said, obviously passionate about her idol.

"I'm glad Sirius isn't here," Remus said to Pauline.

"Definitely," she responded. "The girl doesn't need to have her ears blistered quite that much."

"Hermione," Remus started. "I know what those books say, but there are some things you have to take into account."

"Like what?" Hermione asked looking skeptical

"Well, let's start with Grindelwald," Remus said trying to figure out how to couch things. "There were thousands of other wizards who fought and died in the war against Grindelwald. It is estimated that as much as 20% of the British magical population died in the conflict and Professor Dumbledore was reluctant to join the fight until Grindelwald's forces were threatening our shores. So, yes, he did defeat Grindelwald but there are those who feel that many lives could have been saved if he had entered the fight earlier. If you think about the fact that Grindelwald's forces were supporting Hitler, it also could have meant fewer deaths on the mundane side of the line."

"Okay," Hermione didn't really look convinced.

"Do you know what happened to Sirius at the end of the war?" Remus asked calmly.

"No, it hasn't been discussed." Hermione said.

"I was a mess," They turned to see Sirius coming in the door. "I'd just lost my best friend and his wife, betrayed by another member of Dumbledore's group. I tried to catch Peter, the traitor. He started shooting spells. I had to fight him. Unfortunately, we were in the middle of a street at the time. He knew he couldn't win so he shouted, calling me the traitor. Then shot a spell into the street causing a gas explosion. It killed 12 people and sent me flying. There I was distraught and reeling. Apparently I was muttering about it being my fault. The next thing I knew I woke up in prison, and let me tell you a wizarding prison makes Dickens' description of Newgate sound like a five star resort." Hermione flinched.

"But how is that his fault Mr. Black?" She asked now uncertain.

"It's not just that I woke up in prison, but that in the eight months I was in prison," Sirius said bitterly, "that 'great man' didn't raise a hand to get me freed or even make sure I got a trial to see if I was actually guilty. I fought for him and he washed his hands of me like tossing yesterday's paper in the rubbish bin."

"Sirius," Remus tried to interject.

"Then there's the fact that he'd, 'seen so much wasted life, so many regrettable deaths,'" Sirius mimicked Dumbledores' inflection with a vicious snarl on his face, "that he demanded that his Order of the Phoenix only use non-lethal means when capturing Death Eaters."

"But I've read some of the things he's said about everyone needing the chance for redemption. Surely you can agree with that?" Hermione asked. Harry knew this was not going to end well and steeled himself for where he was sure the conversation was going to go sooner or later. He looked at Neville, sure enough, Neville's face was set in a stoic mask.

"No, I don't. I think if we'd started putting them down permanently early on, we could have saved a lot of good people," Sirius said, his voice growing dark.

"How can you say that? Life is precious." Hermione said with conviction.

"Why are their lives more precious than the people whose lives they destroyed? Redemption is for those who are contrite. Those who truly seek forgiveness can be redeemed. Those followers of Voldemort chose their path, their victims did not."

"I've read that they used the imperius curse extensively." Hermione stated getting into debate mode. "Weren't they just as much victims as those targeted by his followers?"

"Most of those who claimed the imperious defense weren't under it or may have shown signs of it but their actions while supposedly under the curse matched their attitudes before and after." Sirius said building up a head of steam.

"I-", Hermione started but was cut off.

"What about their victims? Did they deserve a chance at redemption? Didn't Harry or Neville deserve a chance to be hugged and kissed goodnight by their mums?" Sirius said angrily.

Hermione burst into tears and fled the room. Sirius finally seemed to remember who he was dealing with, a child, an articulate and brilliant child, yes, but still a child. When the full impact of what he said hit him, he deflated. He wiped a hand over his eyes and looked at Harry and Neville, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay Sirius. I know it's a rough subject for you." Harry said getting up and giving Sirius a hug. He didn't know if the hug was more for him or for Sirius but he did know that he had tears on his cheek.

"I'm okay," Neville said eyes moist and jaw clenched.

Harry released his hug. "I'm going to go find Hermione. Neville you want to come?"

"Yeah," his friend said tightly.

Neville got up to follow Harry. Sirius placed a hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eye. "I'm sorry Neville, I had no right to bring you into that argument."

Harry paused in the doorway waiting for his friend.

Neville looked up at Sirius. "Sirius, it's okay. You at least said it because of outrage at the injustice of it. I've heard there are rumors that I'm a squib because of what I witnessed as a baby. I've heard people talk about sending my parents to a better place, meaning killing them. You care and you gave my family justice back then. We're okay." He placed his hand on Sirius' arm and gave a companionable squeeze. He then followed Harry out of the room.

"Well that went well," Harry heard Remus say.

Once they were around the corner out of ear shot, Harry paused. "Think you can manage a point me spell?"

"Yeah," Neville cast the locator spell and they quickly found Hermione in the barn. They were glad they had learned the warming charm as they walked across the yard. She was leaning against the rail sniffling and petting Sage who was nuzzling her hair.

"Hermione?" asked Neville.

"You guys must hate me. I'll go. I guess I'll see you in September," she said in a rush tears on her face.

"Hermione, we came to see if you were okay. We don't hate you," Neville answered quickly.

"But I was — and your parents — I didn't think." She hiccupped.

Neville shared a look with Harry. Without a word they walked over to their friend and each wrapped an arm around her.

"It's okay. It's not an easy subject," Harry said rubbing her back. "It gets even harder once you make it a personal subject."

"I'm sorry," She said again.

"It's okay," Neville said. "Just remember that we're not talking abstracts when we talk about the war. These are very real things and people on both sides of the subject have personally had hurts and hold a grudge."

"He's right Hermione," they heard Sirius say. They looked up to see him standing inside the door. They hadn't heard him enter the barn. He smiled weakly holding up three jackets.

"I shouldn't have lost control like that and I really shouldn't have made it personal." He handed each of them their jackets. "I'm sorry," he said helping Hermione put on her jacket.

"It's okay, Mr. Black," she said turning and offering him a quick hug. Not one of her rib crackers, but a quick conciliatory hug. "My Mom and Dad are always telling me to be careful of believing what I read. Dad in particular is always harping on what the author's bias is."

Trying to lighten the mood, Neville interjected, "I mean, really, did you see the tripe written about Mr. Chameleon over here in Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts? So Harry, how did you smite the Dark Lord?"

"Well if I recall correctly, I smote him with my dirty nappy." Harry had read the supposed definitive account of him defeating the Dark Lord. "Extrodanariapoopum" he pretended to throw a dirty diaper. "Or something like that."

Sirius chuckled gruffly. No, it wasn't a funny matter but the way the wizarding world treated it and his godson was ridiculous. "Harry Potter and the Dirty Diaper. Did I miss one of the books in your collection?"

"Enough with the books please," Harry pleaded.

"But Harry, what will I get you for your birthday?" Sirius asked, reaching out and ruffling his hair.

"How about the new Nimbus that's coming out?" Harry asked.

"Maybe," Sirius smiled at his godson. "Come on you guys, let's get you back to the lesson I interrupted."

~FF~

The following weekend, Harry competed in his first tournament. He had a good sized cheering section with Petunia and Alfred, Dudley, Hermione and her parents, Neville and his gran, Remus was there with Jane Dorret, the Blacks and Tracey, the Greengrasses and several of Harry and Dudley's friends from football.

Harry was waiting for his cadre to be called for their second set of matches. He'd lost his first match and was sporting a bruise on his cheek and chest. He was annoyed he'd lost. He was fast and strong but the girl he'd fought was fast and strong and had three inches of reach on him. He kind of figured he was going to catch some grief for getting beaten by a girl, but he thought anyone who'd seen how lightning fast her Foette, that caught him in the face, had been wouldn't say a thing. He also knew that she was going to have a rougher time in the second round after the Chasse Bas he landed on her quad. He was watching the matches that were still going on in case he could pick up something about his opponent for the second round. Because the match ups hadn't been announced, he kind of needed to watch all the matches that were simultaneously going on. He heard Mike Timmons the goalie from their team chatting with Tracey

"So you go to that special school with Harry and Dudley?" Mike asked. "That seems like a really good program"

"Yes it is. Dudley got into Smeltings and Harry and I both got into the same public school, so I think we do pretty well." Tracey said.

"Big D's mentioned that you learn Latin," Mike said. "That seems pretty posh."

Harry was now distracted from watching the match. Mike was almost twelve and Harry knew from things he'd said that he was definitely noticing the female half of the species, of which Tracey was a fairly attractive member for her age range.

"Yes, our teachers say it can be useful later for medicine and law, but is generally a good basis for learning." Tracey said. Harry didn't know if she knew he was trying to chat her up but, really, with Sirius for an uncle he assumed she did.

"Yeah," Mike seemed to be searching for something to say. "Could you say something in Latin?"

There was a brief pause.

"Romani ite domum," She said. Harry didn't have to look up to know she had a mischievous grin on her face. He heard Remus and Mr. Granger chuckle.

Harry just groaned a little and went back to watching the match in the left ring. The boy in blue had an interesting weaving technique.

"I suppose you'd like me to have him write that one hundred times before dawn, lass?" Mr. Timmons asked.

"Huh?" Mike asked.

Harry didn't hear the explanation as the matches finished and he was called to join his cadre. He did better in his second match and he would have won on points but he didn't need to, he was able to land a combination that left his opponent stunned and unable to continue.

In his third match, he made a good accounting of himself but lost on points to another opponent who had the reach on him, something he told himself he would practice against since at this point most people were taller than him.

Because they were going to a muggle restaurant and inviting his friends from football, he unfortunately had to leave the bruise on his face alone. He was able to have everything healed but the color of the one on his ribs. Which was good because his female friends all gave him hugs before leaving and Daphne and Hermione both forgot to be gentle.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I am not now nor have I ever been a member of the communist party. Oh wait, wrong disclaimer, I do not now nor have I ever been the owner or creator of a multi-billion dollar fantasy franchise. My fantasies are probably worth significantly less.

A.N.: writing Hagrid drives me nuts, my apologies if I don't properly punctuate the butchering of the English language here. Well more than I already butcher the English language.

Father Figure Chapter 8

When Dudley had told coach that he and Harry were going to be gone for the last two weeks of July he had not been amused. But since Alfred planned to take Aunt Petunia on a two-week Mediterranean cruise to celebrate their anniversary and Sirius and Sophia had offered to take care of the boys it couldn't be helped. Sirius had decided that before they went off to school, two weeks on Black Island in the Caribbean was just the thing. This worked out since Dudley was due at football camp at Smeltings on August tenth. From there it had grown to include Remus and Jane Dorrett, the Grangers, Neville, Daphne, and Tracey. Augusta and Adrian had said they would stay back in Britain to make sure nothing was pushed into Wizengamot that their coalition objected to.

When Dudley had told Mike Timmons, Harry thought his reaction was priceless. "No way, you get to spend two weeks on the beach with those three birds? That is so unfair."

"It's a rough life," Dudley said with a big smile, "but mom and dad are going on a cruise and Harry's godfather has an ownership interest in a resort he's invited us to join them. Tracey is his niece and Daphne, Neville, and Hermione are his business partners' kids." One thing about living around magic it made them very good a telling lies and keeping them straight.

Harry really didn't appreciate the fuss, he'd talked to dad and Sirius and knew that probably in the next year he would start to appreciate girls a lot more and care a heck of a lot more about spending two weeks on the beach with his friends in bikinis but for now it just sounded like a fun trip.

~~FF~~

If Harry never had to take an international portkey again, he would be quite alright. His cousin Dora ended up joining them and she had tried to tell him about a way to eliminate the function of his inner ear for transit but it was beyond his ability to visualize. As it was the trip only took fifteen minutes but left him wanting to throw up for two hours.

"Better than the worst parts of jump school, but still not my idea of fun," Mr. Granger said when he had recovered enough to speak.

About an hour later Harry had enough energy get up off the patio and appreciate the view. They were overlooking a well-protected cove on an island with crystal clear waters. Sirius had said that one of the collateral lines of the Black family had bought the island back in the seventeen hundreds and had warded it extensively. Back then, whether or not the letter of marque was currently valid was such a difficult thing to keep track of so having a place to lie low, when necessary, was helpful.

The next morning, Dora had them up and out on the sand insisting that physical training on sand was good for balance and all their muscle tone. Dudley was happy as he was hoping to be in top shape when he returned for summer work outs. Harry and Dudley had also had a couple of no bullshit talks about girls and Dudley was a bit further along in noticing girls so to have the leader of their morning workout be a pink haired eighteen year old in a bikini was very appealing to him. Sirius had ordered a half dozen two person ocean kayaks, after lunch they paddled out to the reef with Remus, Jane and the Grangers. Mr. Granger taught everyone who hadn't before how to snorkel with fins. Once they were comfortable, the younger generation was given the chance to try gillyweed.

After a few very uncomfortable moments of his metamorph abilities trying to fight the effects of the gillyweed forcing his body to change, Harry was able to breathe underwater. He loved it, his hearing was better, he could swim faster. Sirius tried to show them some things that could be done, but after 2 minutes of trying to talk to them underwater and having to keep surfacing to breath, Sirius finally took some gillyweed as well. Once under water, he demonstrated some things his uncle Alphard had shown him using banish charms and the aquamenti charms to act as underwater propulsion. He also told them about using the cannon blast charm as an underwater stunner but stressed that they would have to take pains to protect themselves or it would rupture their eardrums. None of them had very strong banishers except Tonks, who used it to launch herself even propelling herself up out of the water, but they could all manage a strong enough aquamenti charm to move themselves along at a minimum of a walking pace.

It was a very tired group of people who returned to the beach where Jess, the house elf who had joined them, was grilling fish and vegetables over coals. They had dinner and then sat around enjoying the night air. The stars looked different this close to the equator.

The days fell into a pattern work out on the beach with Dora, breakfast, relaxing activities most days. During the heat of the day, Harry either napped or played games on the covered porch with his friends. In the late afternoon they had fun out on the water, they went fishing and snorkeling back out on the reef. Harry noticed that Dora kept going back to the gillyweed. This was explained halfway into the second week, Dora asked Harry to stay back when they had finished their morning workout.

"Harry, I want you to promise me that you won't try what I'm about to show you until you are at least ready to pass your O.W.L. it involves self-transfiguration beyond anything you've done with your metamorph abilities. I also need you to promise me that you won't attempt this without me or another competent adult present." Dora told him. "Can you promise me that?"

"What are you doing Dora?" Harry asked.

"Remember how I told you about the inner ear transformation and that you could cause the inner ear to become less sensitive?" Harry nodded. "This is a significantly more advanced version of something like that and I wanted to show you and talk to you about how dangerous it is so you wouldn't attempt it."

"Follow me," Tonks said as she walked down into the water. Once they had reached a point where Harry was almost to his shoulders and the water was just hitting the undersides of Dora's breasts, she continued. "Because of what we are, transfiguration isn't second nature to us, it is first nature. It is what we are. You've seen me look like this as my base form for several years. But this is not what I actually look like." Tonks' hair turned black and her cheek bones became much more prominent, her breasts shrank a cup size causing her bikini top to fit more loosely. "I realized when I was going through puberty that I looked almost exactly like pictures of my aunt Bella, I caught my mother and cousin Sirius looking at me sadly, so when I went away to school that fall, I changed things. Sirius and Mum haven't seen me look like this since I was twelve. Change is what we are, if I buy a pair of heels because they look stunning and they are a little too tight in the toes, I can change my foot size. I can teach you how to heal a broken finger or cracked ribs. I've read that it is possible for one of us to regrow severed limbs but I haven't had the need to do it or the guts to try it just to see if it's possible." Dora's face went back to its normal heart shape and her hair went back to pink. "You are only limited by what you can visualize and what you can control."

Harry stood there taking what she had said in.

"When we tried the gillyweed last week, did you feel that moment when you first took it that your magic was trying to revert you to the form you were wearing that day?" Tonks asked.

"Yes, it was like I had to consciously allow it to affect me." Harry answered.

"I had the same reaction, did you notice that you and I also changed back first?"

"No, I wasn't really paying attention to that." He wasn't going to say that for the first time he understood being mesmerized by the female form and it was Tonks bikini clad bum that did it.

"Well we were, so I thought about it and if my magic could remove the gills could it give me gills? It turns out it can." Tonks dropped below the surface and he watched her give him a thumbs up as gills formed on her neck. A minute later, she resurfaced smiling. "Like I said you can do this but you need to have a more thorough understanding of human anatomy first and at least a couple more years of transfiguration, including some human transfiguration. Of course the way cousin Sirius has you working, you might be ready for your owls in third year."

"That is so cool Dora," Harry gushed, his cousin gave him a hug.

Harry looked at her. "Harry, do you remember when we went fishing, gaffing the fish rather than letting them just suffocate on the deck?"

"Yes," Harry answered not sure where Tonks was going with this.

"In all seriousness what I said stands. I need you to promise me you will not try that without a competent adult present for at least 5 more years. If you screw up the transformation, you could suffocate because you couldn't function on land or in water, you could actually bleed out if you mess up the membranes in the gills. There are just things you're not ready for."

"Okay Dora, I've got it, do not do this under any circumstances until I've had lessons in human transfiguration and have you or someone else who can undo things present in case I screw it up."

"You got it kid," she said with another hug, "so let me show you some things that are just variations on what you already know how to do." Tonks then spent the next half hour showing Harry how to make his hands and feet more effective in the water without impeding walking and using his wand.

The rest of the group was impressed later on that day when Tonks showed off her new self-transfiguration.

The last night they were on Black Island, they had a birthday party for Harry, he knew his aunt and uncle planned to take him out the following weekend but this was on his birthday with his friends. After he'd received gifts, including the Nimbus he'd been asking Sirius for, they stayed up late sitting around a bonfire on the beach.

~FF~

The next day Harry and Dudley had finished unpacking and told Petunia they were going to go kick the ball around the pitch. With a 'be back by supper', they grabbed a ball and their cleats. Leaving the house, right as they got the property line, a huge man greeted them.

"'Arry? Is 'at you?" the giant, well okay Harry knew he wasn't actually a giant, even the smaller races of giant were quite a bit taller. Harry held Dudley back from crossing the property line.

"Can I help you?" Harry asked.

"'Arry, Professor Dumbledore sent me to take you to get your things for Hogwarts."

"And you are?" Harry asked dubiously.

"Rubeus Hagrid, Groundskeeper and Keeper of the Keys for Hogwarts," He said drawing himself up to his full height.

"Let me go get Remus or my Godfather, they can let you into the wards," Harry said and turned back to the house with Dudley following him.

Once inside Dudley turned to him, "That is one big bloke."

"Yeah, but assuming it is Hagrid, which I can't think that the intent wards would let someone who wanted to hurt us get that close to the property, it probably is. Remus and Sirius have told stories about him." Harry walked over to the fireplace. Throwing a pinch of floo powder in, he firecalled Remus first since he knew that Sirius would be tied up in meetings with Mr. Greengrass and Lady Longbottom. Once the connection was made, he stuck his head in the fire.

"Remus," He called out, then seeing Remus on the couch with Miss Dorrett in his lap, wearing rather less than she had on the beach the last two weeks, Harry looked at the floor. Harry saw out of the corner of his eye that Jane dove out of the line of sight of the fireplace, leaving Remus to pull a shirt over his front. "Remus, I'm sorry to interrupt, but Rubeus Hagrid is at Privet Drive. He said Dumbledore told him to take me to get my things for Hogwarts." Remus conjured a cloth screen between the fireplace and the rest of the room.

"Harry, give me a couple minutes and I'll come over," Remus said.

"Thank you Remus, please also pass on my apologies to your friend. I really didn't mean to interrupt anything." Harry said glad the screen meant Remus couldn't see him blush. Something which was becoming very rare for him after spending two weeks straight with another metamorph who spent time talking with him about uses of his talent.

"I will, but that's okay Harry, see you in a couple minutes." Remus answered.

Harry pulled his head back. "Dud, Remus will be here in a couple minutes. Aunt Petunia, There's a man at the edge the property claiming to be from Hogwarts, I've asked Remus to come help."

"Good thinking dear, is it the headmaster? Old man, long beard, totally inappropriate fashion sense?" his aunt asked.

"No, it's a scruffy looking middle-aged man who's about nine feet tall. He said his name is Hagrid," Harry answered.

"I don't know who that is, hopefully Remus will." Aunt Petunia said.

"Remus and Sirius have told stories about him." Harry supplied.

Less than two minutes later Remus came through the floo dressed but with his shirt mis-buttoned. "Good afternoon, Petunia, I hope you had a pleasant trip."

"We did, the boys look fit and relaxed so I assume your group had a nice trip as well." Petunia said pleasantly.

"Yes, most definitely," Remus answered. "Harry, please stay here while I go see what's up."

"Will do," Harry said. Remus nodded to him and stepped out the front door. He returned a few moments later and quickly added Mr. Hagrid to the access list. Because it required a magical to make the changes, Remus and Sirius had been given authority to provide temporary access to the property through the wards. This access list blanked at the end of each day. Per Petunia's wishes, the goblins still maintained the master ward list and any magicals who needed access on a more permanent basis had to be added at Gringotts although Remus and Sirius had the ability to remove their access. Alfred rather liked this as it meant he could honestly tell his relatives, who wanted to stop by and become re-acquainted with him, that he didn't have control of the wards. Once he had added Hagrid, he retrieved him from the property line. Hagrid settled his girth onto the sofa which creaked a little under his weight.

"'Arry, am I gla' ta see you, we've been sendin' owls for the las' week. None of them could find you." Hagrid said looking at Harry. "I've go' ta say, you don't look how I' though' you would, you've got yur mum's eyes, bu' I figured you'd have the Potter hair, I remem'er your da' cou' never make it lie fla'."

Harry grinned a bit. Controlling his hair had been one of the first things he'd mastered of changing his form. The default anymore was for black but instead of the bird's nest he'd seen in pictures of his dad, he kept it long and tied back in a short braid. Sirius had told him that he didn't really need to do this until he turned seventeen but that doing it now would be a subtle reminder that he was the heir of an ancient house, the Potters although not always pureblood could trace their magical roots back hundreds of years. He also knew that he didn't really look like James Potter, body wise. He was almost five foot but where his dad had been a bit shorter and much wirier of build at this age Harry was very athletically built. In the past six months Harry had grown three inches and had filled out. He and Dudley both played in football leagues year round along with riding and savate, he was very active. Harry knew the muscles were from legitimately hard work, but he wondered and his dad said it was perfectly possible that his magic had followed his desire for height by starting his growth spurt. He also knew that every magical that hadn't actually met him, and a few that had, expected his scar to be much more prominent. He was still not sure if Sirius' recommendation to use his abilities to make his scar more prominent when he went to Hogwarts was the right idea.

"Mr. Hagrid, my aunt says I take after her dad, he was a big stocky man," Harry said and it was true, in the pictures he'd seen of Grandpa Evans, as a lad, they did look very similar with the same strong build, the same piercing eyes.

"Hagrid, Harry's actually been out of the country on vacation for the last week, we just got back this morning," Remus cut in before the conversation went too far. "Besides, I know that Mrs. Dursley asked Sirius to tell Professor McGonagall that Harry would be attending on September one."

"Well yeah I heard them talkin' and Professor Dumbledore said that normal rules had to be followed so the letter went out. When it couldn' be delivered, he as'ed me to come take Harry to get his things. I ha' Hogwar's business I'm takin' care of for 'im at Gringotts anyhow today."

Remus just looked over at Petunia who had stayed out of the conversation until now. She looked annoyed. "Mr. Hagrid, we can take care of getting Harry his things, I'm sorry for the inconvenience. Do you have a copy of his letter?" she asked.

"Yes 'am," Hagrid said digging into his many pockets until he came up with a slightly crumpled parchment envelope. He handed this to Petunia. She stepped into the office and came back with a biro. Opening the letter she separated out the list of books and necessaries and handed that to Harry along with his ticket for the Hogwarts Express. She quickly signed the acceptance and handed it to Hagrid. She was obviously agitated.

"Sir, I'm sorry that our simple request was too confusing for Mr. Dumbledore to understand," she saw Hagrid bristle at the implied insult. "I thought we'd been clear that Harry would be attending Hogwarts. Please tell Mr. Dumbledore that I would appreciate it if he confined his concerns for Harry to those he should have for every student making sure he gets a good education and that he has a safe environment to do so. Something which I hope he pays more attention to than he did when placing Harry with me and then not checking on him for the better part of a year." She said firmly, "Good day."

Hagrid stood up, "Ma'am, you shouldn' speak ill of Prof Dumbledore. He's a grea' man." He turned to Harry, "'Arry, I'll see you at Hogwarts."

Harry figuring that things were tense enough said. "Mr. Hagrid, I'm sorry for the confusion, thank you for bringing my letter," trying to calm things down.

Hagrid left and Harry looked at his book list. With the exception of robes, He actually already had everything on the list plus quite a few other things. Sirius usually went for overkill.

~FF~

August was busy, which was good because knowing that in less than four weeks he would be moving away from home and not see his family until Christmas was weighing his mood down. The second week of August they helped Jane move out. Since she only had one magical student she would still be tutorning, she had actually gotten a job teaching at a local comprehensive and had used the money she'd saved in the last decade to buy a house on Alder Rd the next block over. It actually abutted one corner of the back yard of number four Privet. She wasn't moving far, but she was not going to be in the home.

The students leaving for Hogwarts all had lessons for most of the month and as Harry had predicted, Remus had gotten them all to the point where they could summon their wand from across the room. He had explained that the wand was the easiest thing to summon as their magic was already intimately familiar with it. Harry's wandless magic was quite a bit further along, he had gotten to the point where he could reliably cast an _incendio_ wandlessly. He also had a banisher that was coming along to balance his summoner. Of the rest, Hermione didn't want to be second in anything so he had noticed her working on her wandless magic. Of course, that might also be because she had totally chafed at the idea that she wasn't allowed to practice with her wand at home because there wasn't an adult magical in the house. Harry agreed with her and asked Petunia to let her come over if she needed the extra practice. The only reason they could practice magic with their wands at his house was because the goblin wards were strong enough to block any magic from leaking out and drawing any attention of the underage magic monitors. Once they had both enrolled in Hogwarts they could have Remus registered as their tutor and then be able to do magic over the summers when they weren't at school.

September first dawned a warm and bright day, Before they left for the station, Sirius had taken him aside, He had given him a pouch with two bezoars in it along with a new watch with emergency portkey. They both knew that it wouldn't work on the grounds of Hogwarts but if he was ever taken off the grounds it should work. There hadn't been another attack on Harry or Sirius since his Great Uncle's funeral but Sirius' security people had heard rumblings of increasing pure blood supremist activity.

It was a large group that made their way through King's Cross station. Harry was already missing Dudley, they'd seen him off to Smeltings the morning before where he had orientation all day Saturday and Sunday with classes starting on Monday. That made so much more sense to him than this long pastoral coach ride followed by a feast and then starting classes first thing the next day. Alfred had opted to stay home, no surprise there, even after several years of being around the rest of their group that treated him, Petunia, Jane, and Dudley no different for the fact that they didn't have magic, he still was very bitter about the magical world, the rest of their extended group however was present. Jane was on Remus' arm. Her moving out had only slightly reduced the amount of time the boys saw their former nanny and teacher.

Harry was awed by the sight of the gleaming scarlet engine. They had timed their arrival fairly early, after a huge rounds hugs from all the adults and admonishments to write. They found an empty compartment and settled in unshrinking their trunks and placing them in the overhead. Fortunately the only pet they had with them was Hermione's recently purchased bruiser of a half kneazle tabby. Harry thought he really was an ugly mug that had appropriately been named Crookshanks. Harry had formed a bond with a female barn owl when they had gone to Diagon Alley to get him his robes and final items before Hogwarts. He had named her Hedwig after a Catholic saint that was also a witch. Remus would send her with a letter this evening to join him in Hogwarts rather than having her ride in the train with him. Neville had left his toad Trevor in his greenhouse at home. Neither Daphne nor Tracey had pets of their own although Daphne said that when her sister Astoria, who was still being tutored by Jane, came to Hogwarts she would probably bring their family cat Mouser.

The ride was fairly quiet, when they were buying lunch from the trolley, they overheard a redhead with unaffiliated robes, which made him their age, talking to a prefect that was obviously his older brother in the hall.

"Percy, I can't find Scabbers, he was in my pocket on the platform and when I went to put him in his cage, he was gone." The name Percy confirmed for Harry that they were two of the Weasleys,

"That's why mother told you to put him in his cage before we left the house." The older boy said in an exasperated tone. "Don't worry though Scabbers has made a lot of trips on the express, I'm sure he'll turn up. In fact he usually disappears in the castle for a few weeks, I think he might have a girlfriend down in the dungeons he goes to see."

"Down with the Slimy Slytherin's, ick why didn't you tell me that before you gave him to me." Harry remembered that the youngest Weasley boy was named Ronald.

"No, I don't mean in Slytherin, he's a rat, I just mean if he's found a girl rat to make babies with it's probably in the dungeon." The older Weasley said with a slightly pained expression.

"Phew, you had me worried there for a minute." Ron said.

Harry went back to picking what he wanted for lunch. They actually had a picnic basket prepared by Jess full of cheese, sausage, bread, and fruit, but Adrian Greengrass said that sweets for afters from the cart were a Hogwarts tradition as much as the four houses and quidditch.

While they were eating the door to their compartment was opened. This wasn't that odd, the prefects had stuck their heads in twice so far to make sure everyone was okay. This time however it was Harry's least favorite relative.

"Hello Cousin, what a collection you have here, blood traitors, a halfblood, a squib, and a mudblood, I see you're doing an excellent job of upholding your godfather's disregard for tradition." Draco Malfoy said with his usual contemptuous sneer.

"Hello Cousin Draco, I see you're spouting the usual pureblood crap that your father was forced into supporting," Harry answered him. Harry really didn't like Draco, because of his position as heir in waiting for the Black family he'd met Draco on a couple of occasions and really had no use for the ignorant blond putz. "Greg, Vince, good to see you again," he said to the two bookends that accompanied Draco. He knew from his godfather that they were being raised by their mothers and had been tutored with Draco, he'd met each of them before and although they didn't say much, just seemed to follow Draco's lead, he didn't dislike them.

"My father is a leader among men, and a proponent of British pureblood traditions," Draco started.

"Who, because your family emigrated from France, is only the second generation to meet the strict British definition of pureblood." Harry switched to French, "Never trust a man whose name comes from the words for bad faith." The rest of their group had all had French lessons, Hermione and Tracey gasped.

Draco was sputtering trying to come up with an answer. Harry wasn't sure if he'd understood the French or not.

"Get out Draco," Neville said. He was sitting nearest the door and gave Draco a shove back closing the door in front of him.

They spent the afternoon playing cards, rummy and bridge mostly. When the announcement that they were near Hogsmeade was made, Neville and Harry quickly pulled the curtains and then stepped into the hall giving the girls time to change. They switched places and both Neville and Harry changed as well.

The ride across the lake was every bit as stunning as it had been described to him. James kept up a running commentary in his head of the various facets of the castle and even gave him a few seconds warning when the ghosts came into the antechamber where the first years were waiting. The appearance of ghosts caused several of the first years to shriek, which made him laugh. Neville looked at him.

"Remus said they do that every year, just another tradition," Harry explained. Neville grinned at him.

"Did he tell you how the sorting is done?" Neville asked.

"No, he said that some traditional secrets are best kept." Harry answered

Neville and Harry stood back and watched, Hermione was chatting with Daphne and Tracey. They heard several groups discussing the sorting. Ron Weasley was saying something about fighting a troll while Draco was talking about superior bloodlines.

The door to the great hall opened stopping all the conversations and they heard the sharp voice of McGonagall. "Form a line, the Sorting is about to begin."

Harry and Neville clasped hands "Good Luck." They shared quick hugs and wishes of good luck with the three girls and then joined the line.

Harry was surprised by the Sorting Hat. He subvocalized, "you couldn't have told me about this?"

"Of course not" his father said. "It's tradition. Besides, it's part of enjoying your years at Hogwarts. Good luck son. Now listen to the song it changes every year."

Once the song was finished a litany of names was read off, James providing commentary of when the first years had relatives that he knew of who were either death eaters or members of Dumbledore's order. The first of their group was called

"Davis, Tracey."

"Slytherin," the hat said within moments of being placed on her head. Tracey took off the hat and walked, carrying herself coolly, from the front of the hall to the Slytherin table.

A few people later, "Granger, Hermione," was called.

"Gryffindor," Hermione practically bounced over to the Gryffindor table.

"Greengrass, Daphne."

"Slytherin," if anything, Daphne moved with even more grace to join Tracey at the Slytherin table.

"Longbottom, Neville"

"Gryffindor" Neville got up, flashed Harry a grin, and walked to the Gryffindor table where Hermione gave him a big hug.

Harry noticed that the hat barely touched Malfoy's head before it said, "Slytherin."

"Potter, Harry"

A.N.: You had to suspect it would cut there.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Just checked my bank account, nope, still don't own Harry Potter, the only profit I make from this is the enjoyment I get from playing within the wonderful framework she-who-could-have-a-solid-gold-house created.

A.N.: Bolded text in the later part of this chapter taken from Chapter 8 HP&thePS. Yes I know not all Londoner's are West Ham fans, but I was watching Graham Norton while editing this and Keira Knightly is so it worked.

Father Figure Chapter 9

Harry heard his name called, he was expecting it, and he probably should have expected the hush that fell over the hall. The whispers unnerved him a little.

"Where's the scar?"

"He's bigger than I expected."

"Hotter too, Potter's a dish." That one was definitely a female voice.

"I thought he wore glasses."

"I'm glad he doesn't."

It continued the long walk up the hall. It didn't look that far from the back of the hall but as he walked it seemed to stretch out. Finally he reached the front, it took almost as much control to hold his form steady as when he'd been hit in the tournament in January. He sat on the stool and let Professor McGonagall place the hat over his head.

"Interesting," He heard in his head similar to when he spoke with his father.

"It's been a long time since I've met someone with a guardian spirit."

"That's private." Harry said.

"Yes Mr. Potter, as are all things I see and hear, not even the headmaster gets information about the sorting. So where do you belong." The hat asked. "You could do well in Ravenclaw, you are very astute. You take your commitments very seriously and have the capacity to be vicious when roused, a badger if I've ever seen one. You could be great in Slytherin, you are cunning and wish to do achieve greatness, you might have to wage war to reach that greatness. You appear ready to rise to the challenge like a true lion. Are you ready to face the challenges before you and overcome all obstacles?"

"I am," Harry said solemnly ready for wherever the hat would place him.

"You face the world bravely young GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted the last.

Harry doffed the hat and handed it to Professor McGonagall. She smiled at him.

He walked towards where Hermione and Neville were waiting for him at their new table. Two redheads, he assumed Weasleys, from there features where shouting, "We got Potter!"

Hermione almost knocked the wind out of him with her hug. Neville clapped him on the back. They sat like three grinning loons as the rest of the sorting went on. It finally came to an end with the youngest Weasley coming to Gryffindor and Blaise Zabini going to Slytherin.

Professor Dumbledore announced the feast with the words "**Nitwhit, Oddment, Squeak**."

"Are we sure he's not going senile?" Hermione asked.

"Gran doesn't think so, but does think he's a bit off." Neville said.

One of the redheads that had been proclaiming the selection of Harry leaned across the table. "He is a bit odd, but most great wizards are."

Their conversation was interrupted by the youngest Weasley, "Oi Potter!" he said swallowing, "how come you never responded to Mom's invite to hang out cousin?" He took a big bite and seemed to swallow it without chewing like a snake. "Mom said she wrote your uncle several times."

"I'm sorry Ron, Uncle Alfred never mentioned it," Harry said hoping this didn't cause him problems since he'd be living with him.

Ron looked put out but went back to eating. Harry looked at the twins. "I hope you're not upset we didn't get to visit as family."

"Nah," Twin one said.

Twin two continued, "Our brother, Bill, told us that he only remembered meeting cousin Alfred two or three times when he was younger and not at all in the last several years. We don't hang out with a fair number of our cousins so no offense taken."

Twin one said, "I'm Fred and this is George."

The dark complexioned girl sitting on the other side of twin two reached over and smacked twin one on the back of the head. "I told you after you pretended to be Fred end of last year to kiss me that I'd notch your ear if you tried that mix and match game again." She turned to the three first years, "This one's George that's his brother Fred. I'm Alicia Spinnet."

"Pleasure to meet you," Harry offered.

Dinner conversation at least around Harry was dominated by talk of Professor Quirrel the former muggle studies professor returning as the new DADA professor. Harry could hear snatches of the rest of the hall and the word Potter seemed to be said frequently. At a lull in the conversation Harry was looking up at the head table and saw that the new professor was turned talking to one of the female professors he wasn't sure which Harry thought is purple turban was odd to say the least but no weirder than Dumbledore's animated robes. The sallow skinned black haired professor sitting next to him looked at Harry and scowled. Harry suddenly felt an uncomfortable pressure in his head

"Harry, look down at your plate now." Harry did stare intently at the details of his fork. "Clear your mind like the candle flame exercise." Harry pictured a candle flame in his head and breathing in and our quickly condensed his world down to the image of the flame dancing on the wick. The pressure in his head eased and he was able to look back up but avoided looking at the head table.

"What was that dad?" Harry asked sub-vocally. "It felt like intense pressure."

"I'm not a hundred percent sure but I think Snape just used a legilimency probe on you to try to read your surface thoughts. My presence may have acted as a shield which would explain why you felt rough pressure instead of just a mild presence." His dad said.

"I don't want to feel that again." Harry said

"We'll work on it, there are things you can do to lessen and prevent its effects." His dad offered. "For the time being, don't look Snape in the eye."

Harry looked up to see Hermione and Neville looking at him, "Sorry guys, swallowed wrong."

Once they had finished dinner and dessert, Dumbledore proceeded to make his beginning of year announcements. When he mentioned that the Third Floor Corridor was off limits, on pain of death, more than half the students shared looks and started whispering, his dad said quietly in his hear, "Pay attention, we'll talk about this later."  
Harry wanted to throttle half his fellow students and the Weasley twins in particular for their rendition of the Hogwarts Song. He loved music. That was not music. The fact that the headmaster praised it either proved he was tone deaf or off his nut. As the prefects led them up to the Gryffindor common room, Dad let him know of three different shortcuts that he said he would show them to him later.

In the Gryffindor common room, the conversation was all about the third floor. It seemed the commonly accepted theory was that it was some sort of challenge, the conditions of which would be announced later on in the term. Fred and George Weasley were trying to talk a couple of fifth years into going exploring with them.

The three Gryffindors, who studied at Douglas House, were already a comfortable group, not surprisingly Harry was the center of attention. His friends were good about it. The Gryffindors tried to not be obnoxious about it but after an hour of hanging out in the common room and having people come up to him, he had to get away from it. He said goodnight to Hermione and he and Neville went up to their room.

Remus and Sirius had both taught him and Neville a very basic revealing charm that, and Sirius had stressed this, was designed to reveal pranks. They figured it was probably too early for anyone to have cast anything on their stuff but they also hadn't had a chance to set up the telltale that Remus had made them to see if anyone tampered with their stuff. Their charms didn't detect anything on the beds. They both went about starting to unpack. Not surprisingly his year mates came in shortly after he and Neville entered the dorm room. Harry was organizing his things. If he had thought that the space he had at home was small, the dorm room gave him even less space. The room was bigger of course but the personal space was tighter. The center of the room had a wood stove with its flue swirling around the ceiling in a spiral. It had a cage around it to prevent falling against it. The students' beds sat like spokes of a wheel with their headboards against the wall. Each bed had a space for the students' trunks at the foot of the bed and a small writing desk and chair next to the headboard. Harry looked at it and realized how little shelf space he had, he was going to have to live out of his trunk by and large. He had pulled out a few family photos to put on his desk and shelf.

"So, I see why you wouldn't want to hang out with me and my brother's, you're too famous by half." Harry looked up to see Ron Weasley, looking at him.

"Excuse me?" harry asked.

"It was obvious how everyone was paying court to you in the common room, they might as well crown you king of Gryffindor. " Ron bit out.

"Really Weasley, you think I like that crap? I'm just here to get an education. I can do without the hero worship for something I don't even remember happening," Harry said getting upset.

"Oh come off it, you were eating it up in the common room just now," Ron retorted.

"I was trying to have a conversation with my friends and trying not to be rude to the people coming up to me. I don't know what you thought you were seeing," Harry explained patiently.

"Not being rude, like when you ignored Mom's invitations?" Ron said.

"Look, I told you Uncle Alfred never mentioned it. I don't know, but I can guess why, my uncle Alfred doesn't really like the magical world. He gets treated like he's less than the rest of his family because he can't do magic." Harry had actually had fairly long conversations about this with his dad over the last few years. He had at first been very hurt when his uncle seemed to not like magic, since his abilities were ever present for the first years Alfred and Petunia had been together, this made him standoffish to Harry. "The first time your mother and father met my aunt, your father treated her like she was dim. That might be the reason that he didn't respond. Look, we have to live together for the next seven years. I don't try for this stuff it's just weird to me."

Ron's response was interrupted by an orange ball of fur entering the dorm room. Crookshanks stalked around the room and leapt up onto Neville's bed. The cat was quickly followed by Hermione still wearing her robes.

"Honestly, I don't know what my roommates are thinking." Hermione said sitting on Neville's bed petting Crookshanks.

Neville just rolled his eyes at Harry's smile.

"Hey get that cat out of here, He'll eat Scabbers." Ron sputtered.

Hermione ignored this comment, she was already building up to full rant. "He's so dreamy," she mimicked, at which Neville smirked at Harry. "They're both gorgeous," Harry tilted his head to the side and just looked at Neville. "How long have you known them?" Neville sat next to the pillow on his bed and started petting Crookshanks. "You're a muggleborn, how can you know the two most eligible wizards at Hogwarts?" This caused both Neville and Harry to blush. "I mean really, eligible wizards, you guys haven't even started puberty yet. How can you be eligible for anything?" causing both boys to blush more and get an indignant look on their faces.

Their other two roommates came in from the common room. "What's a girl doing in our dorm?" Dean asked loudly. This penetrated Hermione's rant.

"Hermione Granger, may I present Ron Weasley, Dean Thomas, and Seamus Finnegan." Harry said standing and offering introduction. He then turned to Dean and Seamus, "I'm sorry we haven't been formally introduced but of course I know your names from the sorting. I'm Harry Potter, These are my friends Neville Longbottom and Hermione Granger."

"Welcome mate," Dean said extending his hand. Harry shook it.

"Hi," Seamus said. "So what's a girl doing in our dorm?"

"Well the prefects said there is an alarm on the girls' dorm stair but none on the boys' dorm," Neville offered. "We've known Hermione for about a year now, we had lessons together," Neville paused hearing giggling in the hallway. "It sounds like we're going to have more girls here shortly," he finished as Lavender Brown, who had introduced herself to Harry in the common room, came into the room with Fay Dunbar and the Patel girl, Parvati, Harry thought was her first name.

"Oh, it's just the same as our dorm," Fay said.

Ron appeared flustered, his mouth opening and closing. Seamus was quicker on the uptake, "Welcome to our home ladies. Please make yourself at home."

Harry decided to go back to unpacking, mostly ignoring the girls. He pulled a few pictures he'd brought out to put on his desk. He had several mundane photos; him with Dudley and Aunt Petunia when they had been dressed up for the theater last spring, a group photo of Neville, Dudley, Daphne, and him in their football jerseys. He also had a couple of wizarding photos, him with Sirius, him kayaking with Neville and Tonks in the Caribbean, him sparring with Tracey Davis, Sirius had them spar at Douglas House so he could use the wizarding camera.

"Who's the girl in the bathing suit?" Fay Dunbar asked, indicating the kayaking picture.

"My cousin Tonks, she graduated last year. That was on our summer vacation." With the question about his pictures Harry became the center of attention again.

"You play footie?" Dean asked.

"Yep, midfield, Neville's a great defender." Harry answered.

"Who are the other two in the picture?" Fay asked.

"My cousin Dudley and Daphne Greengrass," Harry answered.

"Greengrass, she's a Slytherin," Ron said regaining his voice.

Remembering Ron's 'slimy Slytherin' comment on the train Harry responded, "Yep, Neville and I have known her since we were small, her mom helped tutor us."

"You were tutored by a Slytherin, but they're evil." Ron spouted off.

Neville seeing Harry's face cloud with anger stepped in. "Not all Slytherins are evil. Barty Crouch Jr. was a Ravenclaw, Harry's Parents were sold out by a Gryffindor, Peter Pettigrew. Each house has produced villains and heroes, I will ask you to not insult our friends." This was a subject they had talked about extensively given the prejudices of wizarding Britain.

In the silence that Neville's vehement statement created, they heard Fay whisper to Lavender, "Gryffindors charge forward." When she realized everyone heard her, she blushed crimson but Neville looked at her and smiled, causing her to blush even more.

"I - I'm sorry, I just,,, but everybody knows." Ron responded.

"Everybody knows a bunch of crap," Seamus offered. "I mean, does Harry look like those books?"

Harry chuckled, he really did look nothing like the books. His long black hair pulled back, scar almost completely hidden, and no glasses.

"Ah, there are half my first year girls." The fifth year girls prefect they had been introduced to, Patricia Stimpson, said from the doorway. "Come on girls, it's almost ten all quiet in an hour. We've all got class in the morning."

The girls got up to leave, Hermione looked uncertain for a moment but gave Neville and Harry quick hugs before being ushered out by their prefect. Crookshanks followed his mistress.

After a moment, Dean asked, "So, what teams do you guys follow?"

"Arsenal," Neville and Harry said almost in unison.

"I'm a Cannons fan." Ron said smile returning at a subject he thought was safe.

Dean's face soured, "Great a couple of bloody gunners."

"You're from London so West Ham?" Neville asked.

"Yep, just like my dad." Dean answered with a smile.

"Well at least you're not a Manchester fan," Harry snarked.

"Who are you guys talking about? I haven't heard of any of those teams." Ron asked perplexed.

"Football mate," Seamus answered. "It's the one muggle thing me Da loves. We go to a half-dozen matches a year. A lot shorter day than most quidditch matches." Dean and Seamus then spent the next twenty-five minutes explaining football to Ron. Seamus who could make analogies to quidditch seemed to be having much better luck.

The first couple days of classes really were boring for the group from Douglas House, they didn't get to hang out with Daphne and Tracey as much as they would have liked to but both girls appeared happy. They had been befriended by a couple of older students in Slytherin who were business associates of the Greengrasses, which seemed to be how things worked in Slytherin it was all about who you knew. Tracey did confide to Harry that there had been a few comments of halfblood until a couple of sixth and seventh year students had let it be known that she had connections. Harry had figured that Sirius would not let her be unprotected.

Tuesday was their first defense against dark arts, the classroom was hot, it stank, and by the end of class Harry had a splitting headache. But then half his fellow students had headaches due to garlic and incense. The first class was an almost incomprehensible lecture on the defensive properties of herbs. The subject was made even more unintelligible by Quirrel's tendency to stutter. He cut the class short dismissing them while appearing to be in pain.

After the first couple of evenings the novelty of being in their dorm room seemed to wear off for the girls although Hermione and Crookshanks could often be found there studying before bed, which caused Ron to whine about his rat being missing. His brother, Percy, even got involved telling him that Scabbers had been around the dorms for years and was never bothered by any of the cats in the dorm. There was a study room off the common room that was quiet in the morning. Harry and Hermione practiced their Tai Chi there. Harry hadn't yet found anyplace to practice Savate but Tracey had told him she was looking for a place.

Wednesday Night, they had their first astronomy class Harry thought it was fun but wondered what they would do for the four months a year that it got below freezing at night. Oh well he knew the drying and warming charms and he had clothes that were charmed to keep him comfortable and dry. Thankfully Thursday they only had Transfiguration in the afternoon, which Harry dozed off during since it was all information he had been working with for years.

"Mr. Potter, if you could stay after class please." Professor McGonagall ordered as she was dismissing the class.

Harry packed up his bag but instead of following his friends he went towards the front of the class.

"Harry, we'll meet you in the library," Neville said.

"Mr. Potter, I know you had astronomy last night, but I will expect you to remain awake and attentive in my class," the stern professor directed.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am, I'm not used to such late nights," Harry explained.

"That's okay Mr. Potter, just make sure you are prepared for my class. In addition to your homework I would like eight inches on the seven rules of basic transfiguration."

"Do you want the Leipzig interpretation or the Edinburgh?" Harry asked.

"You are familiar with both?" Professor McGonagall asked astonished.

"Yes," Harry said sticking to the story that Remus and Sirius stressed. "Remus Lupin has been one of my tutors since I was little. He taught us some wand technique in the last six months but I've been learning basics of magic as long as I've had lessons beyond reading and writing."

His professor looked at him for a moment, "Mr. Potter, tell me the difference between the Leipzig and Edinburgh interpretations and I may forgive your falling asleep."

"Ma'am, the Leipzig interpretation puts more emphasis on a step by step process and is considered a safer method for beginning students," Harry answered knowing that he was giving an answer that wouldn't appear until the third year book.

"Very good Mr. Potter, I won't award points as this was in response to a correction of your behavior but I also won't require the extra assignment. Go join your friends."

With a bob of his head, Harry left to go join his friends. When he got to the library, he found Neville and Hermione with Daphne and Tracey discussing their Homework from herbalogy and transfiguration. Sitting next to Neville was Fay Dunbar which made Harry smile, his dad decided to weigh in as well.

"Well it certainly appears that Neville has an admirer," James observed.

"Good," Harry replied without speaking out loud. "It's nice to know that at least one of our female year mates isn't boy-who-lived crazy."

"Well two if you count Hermione." his dad said. "Just try to relax over it, I'm sure once they get used to seeing the real you, you'll become much less interesting."

"Way to build my self-confidence dad." Harry said with a smile, knowing his dad didn't mean it negatively, the last two nights like Sunday night, the girls had come up to the boys but they seemed to be less focused on him last night and more just hanging around and talking about classes and things they did over the summer. Other than Ron being certain that Scabbers had been eaten by Crookshanks it was pleasant hanging out with their year mates and much quieter than the common room. He reached the table and took the empty spot next to Tracey, "Sorry about that guys, I dozed off in class and professor McGonagall was just letting me know that was unacceptable.

"You didn't lose points did you Harry? It's the first week of class, you know how important the house cup is." Hermione said.

"No Hermione, I didn't lose points but I did get an extra writing assignment on the safety rules we discussed in the first class." Harry said with a smile, trust Hermione to be more concerned about house points than whether or not he got detention. "So what do you guys think of the Herbalogy homework." Harry knew that the rest of their group could write it without any extra research, thanks to Neville's love of plants.

"Piece of cake," Daphne said. They spent the next half hour writing it up with Neville helping Fay. By the time they finished with Herbalogy it was time to head to dinner. After dinner they went back to the library.

James has a suggestion, "Harry, you and Tracey were looking for someplace to work out. If it hasn't been re-purposed, there is a sallé on the fifth floor. It's across from the statue of Boris the Bewildered. It's where you mother taught me mundane dancing. It has mirrors and changing rooms and should work perfectly for what you want. The password used to be 'En Garde'."

"Thanks Dad, any suggestion as to how mention it without bringing you up?" Harry asked.

"As usual blame Remus, he's gotten used to covering for me over the years." his dad said with a laugh.

In the library, they got to work on transfiguration, Harry looked up a couple of additional references to include in his essay. He was coming back to the table when he saw Malfoy standing there running his mouth. He walked up just in time to hear Neville.

"Méchant petit chien, go find someplace else to yap," Neville ordered Malfoy quietly.

"Why should I leave you blood traitors and the mudblood alone, squib?" Malfoy asked.

Harry thought that setting Malfoy's book bag on fire might be a way to get rid of him but didn't have to as apparently Madame Pince had heard him.

"What's you name young man?" she said tapping Malfoy on the shoulder as Harry sat his book down next to his stuff and picked up his quill to write

"Draco Malfoy," He said turning to look at the librarian.

"I said in my introductory speech about the library that this was a place for studying. Since you are obviously disrupting these students studying you need to leave now."

"But-" Malfoy started.

"But nothing young man, I will be mentioning this to your head of house in this weekend's staff meeting, and I don't expect to see you back here until after that meeting. Now leave." the librarian ordered.

Malfoy left in a huff.

"Thank you Ma'am," Hermione said giving the librarian a smile.

"You're welcome dears, this is a place to study not to play or carry on political discussions," she said before turning and walking away.

"Calling someone mudblood and blood traitor qualifies as a political discussion?" Neville asked Harry.

"I suppose," Harry responded. "'Nasty little dog' why French, Neville?"

"Well it seemed to make him angry on the train so I thought since he likes to make such a point of bringing up ancestry, we could emphasize his," Neville said with a mean smile.

Fay looked perplexed, "What are you guys talking about? I mean yeah he's a pureblood but so am I and so is Daphne."

"I'm from a pureblood family as well," Neville explained. "Although not pureblood, the Potters can trace their magical roots back at least as far as the Battle of Hastings and the Norman Conquest. Tracey, your family goes back five hundred years?"

Harry could actually trace back much further according to his father but wasn't going to muddle the point Neville was making.

"Five hundred thirty-five years since the First Davis attended Hogwarts and it's unclear if Sir Spencer Davis would be considered halfblood or muggleborn as we don't know about his parents." Tracey supplied.

"The point is Malfoy is a collateral branch of the French Malfoys that fled France around the time of the Jacobin revolution. They infer that they are a direct line from Armand Malfoy who received a land grant from William the Conqueror but that's not true, the land was kept in the family but that line of Malfoys died out most likely fighting the Dutch. So for all his posturing about his family being the epitome of British pureblood wizards, it's rubbish, he's just a yappy French dog." Neville explained.

Hermione brought them back around, "Hey guys, Madame Pince said this place was for studying why don't we discuss this later so we don't get kicked out." The rest of the group agreed and they got back to work on transfiguration.

As they were packing up, Harry said to Tracey, "I think I found a place we can practice Savate, Remus mentioned it in his letter. I'll check it out tomorrow and we can talk after potions."

"Sounds good." Tracey said with a smile. "Maybe we can practice Saturday and Sunday?"

Harry nodded.

"Do you think you guys could teach me?" Neville asked. "Classes are pretty easy and it might be fun to have something additional to learn."

"Sure Neville, why don't you write your Gran to get a mouth guard and some gloves and I think I can show you the basics." Harry said out loud. He leaned over and whispered, "Also tell your gran you need an athletic protector." At Neville's blank look, "A cup to protect your berries." Neville blushed. Harry thought it'd be nice to have an extra person. As they left the library he wished Daphne and Tracey good night.

Back in the common room, Lee Jordan was showing off a torn pant leg and scratched up leg. Apparently the third floor corridor contained a three headed dog behind a locked door. A locked door that _aholomora_ opened. Harry watched with interest as one of the Weasley twins, he thought it was George, applied the _episkey_ charm to heal the scrapes and a _reparo_ to fix the pant leg.

"So you figure they decided to show off their battle wounds before healing them?" His dad said in his ear with the tone he used when he was having a teaching moment as Sirius referred to it.

"Yeah, what good is being injured while undertaking acts of bravery if no one knows it?" Harry answered with an eye roll. Harry didn't stay for the rest of the discussion of the obstacle course that was apparently the third floor corridor. He headed up to his dorm room and heard Percy talking to Ron.

"All Weasley all the time." Harry muttered to his dad.

"Well you do live in a dorm with four of them and one more to come next year." his dad answered.

Harry didn't want to interrupt their conversation. So he just went to his writing desk and sat down to pen a letter to Aunt Petunia.

"Ron, there I told you Scabbers hadn't been eaten by one of the cats," Percy was telling his brother. "Just keep him in his cage and remember to feed him and clean it, I'll come by and check on him every few days."

"He's just such a lame pet," Ron whinged.

"Hey, he's a good listener, He listened to a lot of things I've needed to talk about over the last few years. Sometimes that's all you need to figure things out," Percy said giving brotherly advice.

Harry finished up the letter to Aunt Petunia and set it aside to take to the Owlrey in the morning. He also wrote one to Remus talking about the first week and thanked him for telling him about the practice room, using the code that they had set up to cover 'James knowledge' as Remus referred to it. He put away his books and got things ready for the next day. He went to the bathroom and changed into his pajamas, one thing frequently having first year Gryffindor girls in the dorm meant was even though he was used to locker rooms from Savate, he wasn't going to strip down to change in the middle of the dorm room. He brushed his teeth the muggle way, Remus had shown him the mouth cleaning/breath freshening charm but he preferred the feel of his toothbrush. Returning to his bed, he saw that Percy was gone. He heard the faint squeaking of a wheel in the rat's cage. The telltale didn't show any signs of anyone pranking his bed so he got in and closed the curtains spelling them closed and silencing them. He thought that he should make time to practice his violin but it had been a busy week. He ran through the exercises his dad had shown him to start occulmency in addition to his normal control exercises. It felt good to stretch his magic muscles a bit since so little of what they were doing was actually using magic yet.

The following morning rather than practicing their Tai Chi in the study room, Harry convinced Hermione to follow him to the sallé that his dad had told him about. "En Garde" still worked as a password and revealed a sallé de arms that didn't look like it had been used in years. It was a long room narrower than a normal classroom but with wood floors and mirrors down the long wall. There was a slight layer of dust on the mirrors but Hermione was very happy as she also was used to practicing at home in front of a mirror to watch her form. They decided that they would practice cleaning charms later but for the moment could deal with the dust. After they went through the twenty-four short forms, they went back to the Gryffindor tower to shower and get ready for class. At breakfast in addition to owls from Sirius and Remus to which Harry gave his outgoing mail, there was an owl that turned out to be from Hagrid asking if he had time to come by for tea that afternoon.

"Who's the school owl from?" Fred Weasley asked.

"Hagrid, he says he wants to chat about my parents, and wants to know if me and my friends want to come for tea." Harry replied.

"That's nice of him," Hermione said looking up from her potions book.

"Do you and Neville want to come with me for tea?" Harry asked. Turning to look at Ron who was powering through a large breakfast plate, "Ron do you want to join us for tea with Hagrid this afternoon?"

"Sounds good," Neville replied.

Ron swallowed, "I'd like that, Charlie tells fun stories about Hagrid."

"Charlie?" Harry asked.

"My brother that graduated the year before last. He works on a dragon preserve in Romania." Ron said taking a swig of pumpkin juice.

"That's sounds so cool," Harry said. "So Three o'clock this afternoon for tea with Hagrid?" Getting nods all around he looked up to where Hagrid was watching him from the Head table and smiled giving Hagrid a thumbs up and then holding u four fingers, letting him know how many would be joining.

"Guys, just be careful of his rock cake recipe, it might actually contain rocks." Fred offered helpfully. The younger students looked at each other and shrugged.

After breakfast the first year Gryffindors headed down to where they'd been shown the potions lab was. As expected the Slytherins were waiting outside as well.

"Finally a class where the Gryffindor golden boy won't get favoritism." Draco was saying to Theodor Nott.

Harry ignored him knowing Draco was just trying to get a rise out of him. His dad had plenty of negative things to say about professor Snape and Harry had heard most of them over the last year. Even though James did admit that part of his butting heads with Snape in school had been because Snape was friends with Lily before Hogwarts and James saw him as a rival early on, He pointed out that Snape was part of the pureblood supremist group from early on and that soured his friendship with Harry's mom. Sirius had even less positive to say about the potions master. It was an uncomfortable few minutes before the door banged open and Snape gestured for them to enter.

"Gryffindors on the left Slytherins on the right," the potions master ordered.

Harry paired with Hermione and took the work station at the front of the class. Neville and Ron set up at the counter behind them with Dean and Seamus at the counter behind them. The rest of the girls in Gryffindor seemed to want to be at the back of the class further away from the jars of pickled animal bits and ichor.

Once the students were settled, a process that Snape had watched with a scowl on his face, he started to take roll when he got to Harry, **"Ah yes, Harry Potter our new – celebrity" **

"Sir," Harry said raising his hand but trying to ignore the sneer on Snape's face. Snape's words brought a few snickers from the Slytherins.

"**You are here to learn the subtle magic and art of potion making." he began in a voice barely more than a whisper. "As there is little foolish wand waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you to understand the beauty of the softly simmering caldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even stopper death – if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach." **

Harry's father said quietly in his ear, "Except for the part about you being a bunch of idiots, he lifted that speech directly from Horace Slughorn. Wanker."

Harry used all of his control not to react to his father calling his professor a wanker. He almost missed when Snape asked him a question.

"**Potter," Snape** whispered **suddenly. "What would I get if I added powered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"**

Harry had read those things before but wasn't certain, fortunately his father fed him an answer, "Sir, from the third year curriculum, we use those along with other ingredients to create the draught of living death."

**Snape's lip curled into a sneer,** no that was wrong, more of a sneer, "Reading ahead to try to live up to your hype?"

"No sir, potions just interest me, Sir." Harry responded back keeping his voice even.

"Two points from Gryffindor for impudence." Snape spat, looking Harry straight in the eye which caused Harry to feel pressure like an oncoming headache. It eased when Harry stared firmly at the knot of Snape's tie.

"Let's try one more. **Potter where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?" **

**Hermione stretched her hand as high as it would go into the air without leaving her seat.**

This one Harry knew, he'd been drilled on bezoars by both Sirius and Remus. "Sir, naturally occurring in the stomach of a goat, they neutralize the effects of most poisons. A fully stocked potions lab should have a box of them, but we as students should also have one in our potions kit for safety."

"Two points from Gryffindor for showing off." Snape smiled.

"One last question, given your godfather's questionable associations I figure you will know this one. **What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?**" Snape asked.

Harry ignored the dig at Sirius and Remus, "Nothing sir, they are both names for aconite."

Snape looked at the rest of the class, **"Why aren't you copying this down?" **

**Snape then set them to brewing a simple boil curing potion** from a recipe on the board. He swept around the room and alternately made negative admonishments of the Gryffindor's work and praised the Slytherins including giving Draco two points for perfectly stewing his horned slugs. Harry and Hermione worked methodically having brewed this potion before, James was giving running commentary mostly complaining that Snape didn't give them any instructions about ingredient prep. Just after Snape finished singing Malfoy's praises, there was a sizzling noise from behind them. Harry turned just in time to see Dean and Seamus' potion emit acid green smoke and then start splattering. Unfortunately it splashed right on the back of Neville's neck and head. Neville yelled as boils were raised on his skin. It also hit Dean in the face causing angry boils to appear on his cheek and neck.

"**Idiot boy," snarled Snape, clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. "I supposed you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"**

"**Take them to the hospital wing." Snape spat at Seamus and Ron.**

"**You – Potter – why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? **Since you're so interested in potions."

His dad told him to stay calm. "Sorry sir, I couldn't see his workstation from where I was."

Snape muttered as he finished cleaning up the potion accident. An hour later they finally left the dungeon having watched Snape mark zeros for Dean, Seamus, Ron, and Neville. This caused Malfoy to make snide comments about Neville being such a squib that he couldn't even brew potions.

They headed to the hospital wing to see how dean and Neville were. Madame Pomfrey after first assuming that they were hurt as well let them know that Neville and Dean had been released and should be at lunch.

They found the four boys walking down the stairs from the Gryffindor Tower, Dean and Neville looking freshly showered and in new clothes. Hermione broke the news to them that Snape had given all four of them zero's on their potions like she was telling them their pet had died.

Neville's face clouded up, "Guy's I'll see you at lunch, I have to go write my Gran a letter."


End file.
